Signaling optimization in a wireless network for traffic based on heart-beat messages

ABSTRACT

A method of optimizing management of presence information over a mobile network includes determining, by a host server, the presence information of a user of a mobile application on a mobile device based on heartbeat messages, while a first connection between the mobile device and the host server is closed, wherein the user is determined to be online when heartbeat messages are received from the mobile device in regular intervals of time. The user is determined to be offline when heartbeat messages are not received from the mobile device. The method may further include maintaining or closing a second connection between the host server and a content server based on the presence information of the user. Maintaining the second connection allows the content server to determine that the user is online, and closing the second connection allows the content server to determine that the user is offline.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application is a divisional of U.S. Utility patentapplication Ser. No. 13/844,726 titled “Signaling Optimization in aWireless Network for Traffic Utilizing Proprietary and Non-proprietary(HTTP) Protocols” filed on Mar. 15, 2013, which claims priority to andbenefit from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/756,926titled “Signaling Optimization in a Wireless Network for TrafficUtilizing Proprietary and Non-proprietary (HTTP) Protocols”, filed onJan. 25, 2013, the content of which is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Some mobile traffic utilize standard or non-proprietary protocols suchas the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which by default runs on port80 and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), which by default runson port 443. Some other mobile traffic, however, utilize vendor-specificproprietary protocols instead of the standard or non-proprietaryprotocols such as HTTP or HTTPS. For example, GOOGLE's traffic (e.g.,GOOGLE Play, ANDROID Cloud to Device Messaging service, GOOGLE cloudmessaging) utilizes a non-standard Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)port 5228.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A-1 depicts a diagram of an example pattern showing recurring 175bytes upstream and 297 bytes downstream, extracted from an application“Whatsapp,” which utilizes a proprietary or non-standard protocol, tofacilitate signal optimization for this application.

FIG. 1A-2 depicts a diagram of an example pattern showing periodic 8/8byte transactions, extracted from byte streams from an application“com.sina.weibo,” which utilizes a proprietary or non-standard protocol,to facilitate signal optimization for this application.

FIG. 1A-3 depicts a diagram of an example pattern showing recurringtransaction inside a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) stream, extracted frombyte streams from an application “com.google.android.gms” that utilizesa proprietary or non-standard protocol to facilitate signal optimizationfor this application.

FIG. 1A-4 and FIG. 1A-5 depict a table listing example transaction dataand patterns determined from analyzing of byte streams going to and/orreceived from applications utilizing proprietary, non-proprietary and/orencrypting protocols.

FIG. 1B illustrates an example diagram of a system where a host serverfacilitates management of traffic, content caching, and/or resourceconservation between mobile devices (e.g., wireless devices), anapplication server or content provider, or other servers such as an adserver, promotional content server, or an e-coupon server in a wirelessnetwork (or broadband network) for resource conservation. The hostserver can further optimize signaling in a wireless network for trafficutilizing proprietary (non-standard) and non-proprietary (e.g., HTTP)protocols.

FIG. 1C illustrates an example diagram of a proxy and cache systemdistributed between the host server and device which facilitates networktraffic management between a device, an application server or contentprovider, or other servers such as an ad server, promotional contentserver, or an e-coupon server for resource conservation and contentcaching. The proxy system distributed among the host server and thedevice can further optimize signaling in a wireless network for trafficutilizing proprietary (non-standard) and non-proprietary (e.g., HTTP)protocols.

FIG. 1D illustrates an example diagram of the logical architecture of adistributed proxy and cache system.

FIG. 1E illustrates an example diagram showing the architecture ofclient side components in a distributed proxy and cache system.

FIG. 1F illustrates a diagram of the example components on the serverside of the distributed proxy and cache system.

FIG. 2A depicts a block diagram illustrating another example ofclient-side components in a distributed proxy and cache system, furtherincluding a proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine.

FIG. 2B depicts a block diagram illustrating additional components inthe proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine shown in theexample of FIG. 2.

FIG. 3A depicts a block diagram illustrating an example of server-sidecomponents in a distributed proxy and cache system, further including aproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine.

FIG. 3B depicts a block diagram illustrating additional components inthe proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine shown in theexample of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 4A depicts a block diagram illustrating an example of client-sidecomponents in a distributed proxy and cache system residing on a mobiledevice (e.g., wireless device) that manages traffic in a wirelessnetwork (or broadband network) for resource conservation, contentcaching, and/or traffic management. The client-side proxy (or localproxy) can further categorize mobile traffic and/or implement deliverypolicies based on application behavior, content priority, user activity,and/or user expectations.

FIG. 4B depicts a block diagram illustrating a further example ofcomponents in the cache system shown in the example of FIG. 4A which iscapable of caching and adapting caching strategies for mobileapplication behavior and/or network conditions. Components capable ofdetecting long poll requests and managing caching of long polls are alsoillustrated.

FIG. 4C depicts a block diagram illustrating additional components inthe application behavior detector and the caching policy manager in thecache system shown in the example of FIG. 4A which is further capable ofdetecting cache defeat and perform caching of content addressed byidentifiers intended to defeat cache.

FIG. 4D depicts a block diagram illustrating examples of additionalcomponents in the local cache shown in the example of FIG. 4A which isfurther capable of performing mobile traffic categorization and policyimplementation based on application behavior and/or user activity.

FIG. 5A depicts a block diagram illustrating an example of server-sidecomponents in a distributed proxy and cache system that manages trafficin a wireless network (or broadband network) for resource conservation,content caching, and/or traffic management. The server-side proxy (orproxy server) can further categorize mobile traffic and/or implementdelivery policies based on application behavior, content priority, useractivity, and/or user expectations.

FIG. 5B depicts a block diagram illustrating a further example ofcomponents in the caching policy manager in the cache system shown inthe example of FIG. 5A which is capable of caching and adapting cachingstrategies for mobile application behavior and/or network conditions.Components capable of detecting long poll requests and managing cachingof long polls are also illustrated.

FIG. 5C depicts a block diagram illustrating another example ofcomponents in the proxy system shown in the example of FIG. 5A which isfurther capable of managing and detecting cache defeating mechanisms andmonitoring content sources.

FIG. 5D depicts a block diagram illustrating examples of additionalcomponents in proxy server shown in the example of FIG. 5A which isfurther capable of performing mobile traffic categorization and policyimplementation based on application behavior and/or traffic priority.

FIG. 6 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example data flow betweena mobile application, a content server, a local proxy and a proxy serverfor optimizing signaling in a wireless network for traffic utilizingproprietary (non-standard) and non-proprietary (standard) protocols.

FIG. 7 depicts a logic flow diagram illustrating an example methodimplemented on a mobile device for optimizing signaling in a wirelessnetwork for traffic utilizing proprietary (non-standard) andnon-proprietary (standard) protocols according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 8 depicts a logic flow diagram illustrating an example methodimplemented on a mobile device for optimizing signaling in a wirelessnetwork for traffic utilizing proprietary (non-standard) andnon-proprietary (standard) protocols according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 depicts a logic flow diagram illustrating an example methodimplemented on a proxy server for optimizing signaling in a wirelessnetwork for traffic utilizing proprietary (non-standard) andnon-proprietary (standard) protocols.

FIG. 10A depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example process fordistributed content caching between a mobile device (e.g., any wirelessdevice) and remote proxy and the distributed management of contentcaching.

FIG. 10B depicts a timing diagram showing how data requests from amobile device (e.g., any wireless device) to an applicationserver/content provider in a wireless network (or broadband network) canbe coordinated by a distributed proxy system in a manner such thatnetwork and battery resources are conserved through using contentcaching and monitoring performed by the distributed proxy system.

FIG. 11 depicts a table showing examples of different traffic orapplication category types which can be used in implementing networkaccess and content delivery policies.

FIG. 12 depicts a table showing examples of different content categorytypes which can be used in implementing network access and contentdelivery policies.

FIG. 13 depicts an interaction diagram showing how polls having datarequests from a mobile device (e.g., any wireless device) to anapplication server/content provider over a wireless network (orbroadband network) can be can be cached on the local proxy and managedby the distributed caching system.

FIG. 14 depicts an interaction diagram showing how polls for contentfrom an application server/content provider which employscache-defeating mechanisms in identifiers (e.g., identifiers intended todefeat caching) over a wireless network (or broadband network) can bedetected and locally cached.

FIG. 15 depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process forcollecting information about a request and the associated response toidentify cacheability and caching the response.

FIG. 16 depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process showingdecision flows to determine whether a response to a request can becached.

FIG. 17 depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process fordetermining potential for cacheability based on request periodicityand/or response repeatability.

FIG. 18 depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process fordynamically adjusting caching parameters for a given request or client.

FIG. 19 depicts a flow chart illustrating example processes forapplication and/or traffic (data) categorization while factoring in useractivity and expectations for implementation of network access andcontent delivery policies.

FIG. 20A depicts a flow chart illustrating example processes forhandling traffic which is to be suppressed at least temporarilydetermined from application/traffic categorization.

FIG. 20B depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process forselection of a network configuration for use in sending traffic based onapplication and/or traffic (data) categorization.

FIG. 20C depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process forimplementing network access and content delivery policies based onapplication and/or traffic (data) categorization.

FIG. 21 depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process for networkselection based on mobile user activity or user expectations.

FIG. 22 depicts a data timing diagram showing an example of detection ofperiodic request which may be suitable for caching.

FIG. 23 depicts a data timing diagram showing an example of detection ofchange in request intervals and updating of server polling rate inresponse thereto.

FIG. 24 depicts a data timing diagram showing an example of servingforeground requests with cached entries.

FIG. 25 depicts a data timing diagram showing an example of the possibleeffect of cache invalidation that occurs after outdated content has beenserved once again to a requesting application.

FIG. 26 depicts a data timing diagram showing cache management andresponse taking into account the time-to-live (TTL) set for cacheentries.

FIG. 27 shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the exampleform of a computer system within which a set of instructions, forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, may be executed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and drawings are illustrative and are not tobe construed as limiting. Numerous specific details are described toprovide a thorough understanding of the disclosure. However, in certaininstances, well-known or conventional details are not described in orderto avoid obscuring the description. References to “one embodiment” or“an embodiment” in the present disclosure can be, but not necessarilyare, references to the same embodiment and such references mean at leastone of the embodiments.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” invarious places in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodimentsmutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features aredescribed which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others.Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirementsfor some embodiments but not other embodiments.

The terms used in this specification generally have their ordinarymeanings in the art, within the context of the disclosure, and in thespecific context where each term is used. Certain terms that are used todescribe the disclosure are discussed below, or elsewhere in thespecification, to provide additional guidance to the practitionerregarding the description of the disclosure. For convenience, certainterms may be highlighted, for example using italics and/or quotationmarks. The use of highlighting has no influence on the scope and meaningof a term; the scope and meaning of a term is the same, in the samecontext, whether or not it is highlighted. It will be appreciated thatsame thing can be said in more than one way.

Consequently, alternative language and synonyms may be used for any oneor more of the terms discussed herein, nor is any special significanceto be placed upon whether or not a term is elaborated or discussedherein. Synonyms for certain terms are provided. A recital of one ormore synonyms does not exclude the use of other synonyms. The use ofexamples anywhere in this specification, including examples of any termsdiscussed herein, is illustrative only, and is not intended to furtherlimit the scope and meaning of the disclosure or of any exemplifiedterm. Likewise, the disclosure is not limited to various embodimentsgiven in this specification.

Without intent to limit the scope of the disclosure, examples ofinstruments, apparatus, methods and their related results according tothe embodiments of the present disclosure are given below. Note thattitles or subtitles may be used in the examples for convenience of areader, which in no way should limit the scope of the disclosure. Unlessotherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein havethe same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in theart to which this disclosure pertains. In the case of conflict, thepresent document, including definitions, will control.

Existing signaling optimization systems and methods for reducing mobilenetwork congestion can optimize mobile traffic over standard andnon-proprietary application level protocols including, but not limitedto: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Hypertext Transfer ProtocolSecure (HTTPS), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Simple Mail TransferProtocol (SMTP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Post OfficeProtocol (POP), and the like. However, many mobile applications aremoving away from the standard protocols towards vendor specificproprietary protocols. For example, GOOGLE utilizes a non-standardTransmission Control Protocol (TCP) port 5228. By way of anotherexample, the “WhatsApp” mobile application uses a customized version ofthe Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). Similarly, someapplications such as Skype and Yahoo mail use their own proprietaryprotocols, while others such as Urban Airship's push notificationsprotocol is used by various vendors.

Existing signaling optimization systems and methods replay or replicateentire transaction as instructed by a client, which means that theserver performing the signal optimization needs to establish any session(TCP socket and any application level handshakes, Secure Sockets Layer(SSL), etc.) autonomously. However, to do so, the protocols must be wellunderstood. For example, the header and other protocol specific datamust be known before any optimization can be performed. As proprietaryprotocols are not standardized and not well understood, mobile trafficover such proprietary protocols cannot be optimized by existingoptimization systems and methods. Embodiment of the present disclosureincludes systems and methods for providing signaling optimization in awireless network for traffic utilizing both proprietary andnon-proprietary protocols. The disclosed technology includes anarchitecture (e.g., a distributed system comprised of a local proxyand/or a proxy server) that optimizes signaling for arbitrary,proprietary, and/or non-standard protocols, in addition to standardprotocols such as HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SMTP, IMAP, POP, XMPP, and the likein one embodiment. In a further embodiment, the disclosed technologyprovides a protocol agnostic systems and methods for signalingoptimization for any traffic in a wireless network.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also include systems and methodsfor signaling optimization in a wireless network for traffic utilizingproprietary and non-proprietary protocols.

Data Proliferation and Mobile Traffic Management

There are multiple factors that contribute to the proliferation of data:the end-user, mobile devices, wireless devices, mobile applications, andthe network. As mobile devices evolve, so do the various elementsassociated with them-availability, applications, user behavior, locationthus changing the way the network interacts with the device and theapplication.

The disclosed technology provides a comprehensive and end-to-endsolution that is able to address each element for operators and devicesmanufacturers to support both the shift in mobile or wireless devicesand the surge in data by leveraging the premise that mobile content hasa definable or relevant “freshness” value. The “freshness” of mobilecontent can be determined, either with certainty, or with someheuristics having a tolerance within which the user experience isenhanced, or not negatively impacted, or negatively impacted but iseither not perceptible to the user or within a tolerable thresholdlevel.

The disclosed innovation transparently determines such “freshness” bymonitoring, analyzing, and applying rules (which may be heuristicallydetermined) the transactions (requests/responses) between applications(e.g., mobile applications) and the peers (corresponding server or otherclients). Moreover, the technology is further able to effectively cachecontent which may be marked by its originating/host server as being“non-cacheable” and identify some “freshness” value which can then beused in implementing application-specific caching. In general, the“freshness” value has an approximate minimum value which is typicallydetermined using the update interval (e.g., interval with which requestsare sent) between the application and its corresponding server/host.

One embodiment of the disclosed technology includes a system thatoptimizes multiple aspects of the connection with wired and wirelessnetworks and devices through a comprehensive view of device andapplication activity including: loading, current application needs on adevice, controlling the type of access (push vs. pull or hybrid),location, concentration of users in a single area, time of day, howoften the user interacts with the application, content or device, andusing this information to shape traffic to a cooperative client/serveror simultaneously mobile devices without a cooperative client. Becausethe disclosed server is not tied to any specific network provider it hasvisibility into the network performance across all service providers.This enables optimizations to be applied to devices regardless of theoperator or service provider, thereby enhancing the user experience andmanaging network utilization while roaming. Bandwidth has beenconsidered a major issue in wireless networks today. More and moreresearch has been done related to the need for additional bandwidth tosolve access problems. Many of the performance enhancing solutions andnext generation standards, such as those commonly referred to as 3.5G,LTE, 4G, and WiMax, are focused on providing increased bandwidth.Although partially addressed by the standards, a key problem thatremains is lack of bandwidth on the signaling channel more so than thedata channel and the standard does not address battery life very well.

Embodiments of the disclosed technology includes, for example, alignmentof requests from multiple applications to minimize the need for severalpolling requests; leverage specific content types to determine how toproxy/manage a connection/content; and applying specific heuristicsassociated with device, user behavioral patterns (how often theyinteract with the device/application) and/or network parameters.

Embodiments of the present technology can further include, movingrecurring HTTP polls performed by various widgets, RSS readers, etc., toremote network node (e.g., Network Operation Center (NOC)), thusconsiderably lowering device battery/power consumption, radio channelsignaling and bandwidth usage. Additionally, the offloading can beperformed transparently so that existing applications do not need to bechanged.

In some embodiments, this can be implemented using a local proxy on themobile device (e.g., any wireless device) which automatically detectsrecurring requests for the same content (RSS feed, Widget data set) thatmatches a specific rule (e.g., happens every 15 minutes). The localproxy can automatically cache the content on the mobile device whiledelegating the polling to the server (e.g., a proxy server operated asan element of a communications network). The server can then notify themobile/client proxy if the content changes, and if content has notchanged (or not changed sufficiently, or in an identified manner oramount) the mobile proxy provides the latest version in its cache to theuser (without need to utilize the radio at all). This way the mobile orwireless device (e.g., a mobile phone, smart phone, M2M module/MODEM, orany other wireless devices, etc.) does not need to open (e.g., thuspowering on the radio) or use a data connection if the request is forcontent that is monitored and that has been not flagged as new/changed.

The logic for automatically adding content sources/application servers(e.g., including URLs/content) to be monitored can also check forvarious factors like how often the content is the same, how often thesame request is made (is there a fixed interval/pattern?), whichapplication is requesting the data, etc. Similar rules to decide betweenusing the cache and request the data from the original source may alsobe implemented and executed by the local proxy and/or server.

For example, when the request comes at an unscheduled/unexpected time(user initiated check), or after every (n) consecutive times theresponse has been provided from the cache, etc., or if the applicationis running in the background vs. in a more interactive mode of theforeground. As more and more mobile applications or wireless enabledapplications base their features on resources available in the network,this becomes increasingly important. In addition, the disclosedtechnology allows elimination of unnecessary chatter from the network,benefiting the operators trying to optimize the wireless spectrum usage.

Traffic Categorization and Policy

In some embodiments, the disclosed proxy system is able to establishpolicies for choosing traffic (data, content, messages, updates, etc.)to cache and/or shape. Additionally, by combining information fromobserving the application making the network requests, getting explicitinformation from the application, or knowing the network destination theapplication is reaching, the disclosed technology can determine or inferwhat category the transmitted traffic belongs to.

For example, in one embodiment, mobile or wireless traffic can becategorized as: (a1) interactive traffic or (a2) background traffic. Thedifference is that in (a1) a user is actively waiting for a response,while in (2) a user is not expecting a response. This categorization canbe used in conjunction with or in lieu of a second type ofcategorization of traffic: (b1) immediate, (b2) low priority, (b3)immediate if the requesting application is in the foreground and active.

For example, a new update, message or email may be in the (b1) categoryto be delivered immediately, but it still is (a2) background traffic—auser is not actively waiting for it. A similar categorization applies toinstant messages when they come outside of an active chat session.During an active chat session a user is expecting a response faster.Such user expectations are determined or inferred and factored into whenoptimizing network use and device resources in performing trafficcategorization and policy implementation.

Some examples of the applications of the described categorizationscheme, include the following: (a1) interactive traffic can becategorized as (b1) immediate—but (a2) background traffic may also be(b2) or (b3). An example of a low priority transfer is email or messagemaintenance transaction such as deleting email or other messages ormarking email as read at the mail or application server. Such a transfercan typically occur at the earlier of (a) timer exceeding a timeoutvalue (for example, 2 minutes), and (b) data being sent for otherpurposes.

An example of (b3) is IM presence updates, stock ticker updates, weatherupdates, status updates, news feeds. When the UI of the application isin the foreground and/or active (for example, as indicated by thebacklight of the device/phone being lit or as determined or inferredfrom the status of other sensors), updates can be considered immediatewhenever server has something to push to the device. When theapplication is not in the foreground or not active, such updates can besuppressed until the application comes to foreground and is active.

With some embodiments, networks can be selected or optimizedsimultaneously for (a1) interactive traffic and (a2) background traffic.

In some embodiments, as the wireless device or mobile device proxy(separately or in conjunction with the server proxy) is able tocategorize the traffic as (for example) (a1) interactive traffic or (a2)background traffic, it can apply different policies to different typesof traffic. This means that it can internally operate differently for(a1) and (a2) traffic (for example, by allowing interactive traffic togo through to the network in whole or in part, and apply strictertraffic control to background traffic; or the device side only allows arequest to activate the radio if it has received information from theserver that the content at the host has been updated, etc.).

When the request does require access over the wireless network, thedisclosed technology can request the radio layer to apply differentnetwork configurations to different traffic. Depending on the type oftraffic and network this may be achieved by different means:

(1) Using 3G/4G for (a1) and 2G/2.5G for (a2);

(2) Explicitly specifying network configuration for different data sets(e.g. in terms of use of FACH (forward access channel) vs. DCH(dedicated channel), or otherwise requesting lower/more networkefficient data rates for background traffic); or

(3) Utilizing different network access points for different data sets(access points which would be configured to use network resourcesdifferently similar to (1) and (2) above).

Additionally, 3GPP Fast Dormancy calls for improvements so thatapplications, operating systems or the mobile device would haveawareness of the traffic type to be more efficient in the future.Embodiments of the disclosed system, having the knowledge of the trafficcategory and being able to utilize Fast Dormancy appropriately may solvethe problem identified in Fast Dormancy. This way the mobile orbroadband network does not need to be configured with a compromisedconfiguration that adversely impacts both battery consumption andnetwork signaling resources.

Polling Schedule

Detecting (or determining) a polling schedule allows the proxy server(server-side of the distributed cache system) to be as close as possiblewith its polls to the application polls. Many applications employscheduled interval polling (e.g., every 4 hours or every 30 seconds, atanother time interval). The client side proxy can detect automatic pollsbased on time measurements and create a automatic polling profile for anapplication. As an example, the local proxy attempts to detect the timeinterval between requests and after 2, 3, 4, or more polls, determinesan automatic rate if the time intervals are all within 1 second (oranother measure of relative closeness) of each other. If not, the clientmay collect data from a greater number of polling events (e.g., 10-12polls) and apply a statistical analysis to determine, compute, orestimate a value for the average interval that is used. The pollingprofile is delivered to the server where it is used. If it is a frequentmanual request, the locally proxy can substitute it with a defaultinterval for this application taken from a profile for non-criticalapplications.

In some embodiments, the local proxy (e.g., device side proxy) may keepmonitoring the application/client polls and update the polling interval.If it changes by more than 30% (or anotherpredetermined/dynamic/conditional value) from the current value, it iscommunicated to the proxy server (e.g., server-side proxy). Thisapproach can be referred to as the scenario of “lost interest.” In someinstances, the local proxy can recognize requests made outside of thisschedule, consider them “manual,” and treat them accordingly.

Application Classes/Modes of Caching

In some embodiments, applications can be organized into three groups ormodes of caching. Each mobile client/application can be categorized tobe treated as one of these modes, or treated using multiple modes,depending on one or more conditions.

A) Fully cached—local proxy updates (e.g., sends application requestsdirectly over the network to be serviced by the applicationserver/content host) only when the proxy server tells the local proxy toupdate. In this mode, the local proxy can ignore manual requests and theproxy server uses the detected automatic profile (e.g., sports scoreapplets, Facebook, every 10, 15, 30, or more polls) to poll theapplication server/content provider.

B) Partially cached—the local proxy uses the local or internal cache forautomatic requests (e.g., application automatic refreshes), otherscheduled requests but passes through some manual requests (e.g., emaildownload, EBay or some Facebook requests); and

C) Never cached (e.g., real-time stock ticker, sports scores/statuses;however, in some instances, 15 minutes delayed quotes can be safelyplaced on 30 seconds schedules—B or even A).

The actual application or caching mode classification can be determinedbased on the rate of content change and critical character of data.Unclassified applications by default can be set as class C.

Backlight and Active Applications

In some embodiments, the local proxy starts by detecting the devicebacklight status. Requests made with the screen light ‘off’ can beallowed to use the local cache if a request with identical signature isregistered with the proxy server, which is polling the original hostserver/content server(s) to which the requests are directed. If thescreen light is ‘on’, further detection can be made to determine whetherit is a background application or for other indicators that local cacheentries can or cannot be used to satisfy the request. When identified,the requests for which local entries can be used may be processedidentically to the screen light off situation. Foreground requests canuse the aforementioned application classification to assess when cacheddata is safe to use to process requests.

Example Patterns of Byte Streams

Referring to FIG. 1A-1, the screenshot diagram 160 depicts an examplepattern 164 b of byte streams corresponding to transactions observedover time. The pattern 164 b shows a recurring 175 bytes of upstreamdata and 297 bytes of downstream data (indicated by reference numeral164 a) captured from an application “Whatsapp” 162 which utilizes aproprietary or non-standard protocol, to facilitate signal optimizationfor this application.

Referring to FIG. 1A-2, the screenshot diagram 166 depicts an examplepattern 170 c of byte streams corresponding to transactions observedover time. The pattern 170 c shows periodic 8/8 byte transactions (e.g.,170 a, 170 b) captured from an application “com.sina.weibo” 168 whichutilizes a proprietary or non-standard protocol, to facilitate signaloptimization for this application.

Referring to FIG. 1A-3, the screenshot diagram 172 depicts an examplepattern 176 d of byte streams corresponding to recurring transactionsinside Secure Socket Layer (SSL) streams (176 a-b) from an application“com.google.android.gms” 174 that utilizes a proprietary or non-standardprotocol to facilitate signal optimization for this application.

Referring to FIG. 1A-4 and FIG. 1A-5, the table 178 lists exampletransaction data and patterns determined from analyzing of byte streamsgoing to and/or received from applications utilizing proprietary,non-proprietary and/or encrypting protocols. As depicted, variousparameters such as identity of the application, bytes sent, bytesreceived, proprietary or non-proprietary protocols encapsulating thebytes sent/received, port numbers used, and the like can be tracked,monitored and/or determined. As depicted, the example data set includestransactions from certain applications like “.com.sina.weibo” that usesa proprietary application later protocol which can be identified as“unknown” 178 a. In some implementations, some applications use standardprotocols such as “HTTP” 178 b over standard ports. In otherimplementations, SSL or other encrypting protocol may be used (e.g., 178c). Regardless of the proprietary, non-proprietary or encrypting type ofprotocols used by applications, the systems and methods disclosed hereincan identify one or more patterns and use such patterns for signalingoptimization in a wireless network. In some implementations, in order toestablish transaction patterns, occurrences of transactions, intervalbetween transactions, including median interval, mean interval, and anyother statistical measure or metric can be determined as depicted.

Example Systems

FIG. 1B illustrates an example diagram of a system where a host server100 facilitates management of traffic, content caching, and/or resourceconservation between mobile devices (e.g., wireless devices 150), and anapplication server or content provider 110, or other servers such as anad server 120A, promotional content server 120B, or an e-coupon server120C in a wireless network (or broadband network) for resourceconservation. The host server can further optimize signaling in awireless network for traffic utilizing proprietary (non-standard) andnon-proprietary (e.g., HTTP) protocols.

The client devices 150 can be any system and/or device, and/or anycombination of devices/systems that is able to establish a connection,including wired, wireless, cellular connections with another device, aserver and/or other systems such as host server 100 and/or applicationserver/content provider 110. Client devices 150 will typically include adisplay and/or other output functionalities to present information anddata exchanged between among the devices 150 and/or the host server 100and/or application server/content provider 110. The applicationserver/content provider 110 can by any server including third partyservers or service/content providers further including advertisement,promotional content, publication, or electronic coupon servers orservices. Similarly, separate advertisement servers 120A, promotionalcontent servers 120B, and/or e-Coupon servers 120C as applicationservers or content providers are illustrated by way of example.

For example, the client devices 150 can include mobile, hand held orportable devices, wireless devices, or non-portable devices and can beany of, but not limited to, a server desktop, a desktop computer, acomputer cluster, or portable devices, including a notebook, a laptopcomputer, a handheld computer, a palmtop computer, a mobile phone, acell phone, a smart phone, a PDA, a Blackberry device, a Palm device, ahandheld tablet (e.g., an iPad or any other tablet), a hand heldconsole, a hand held gaming device or console, any SuperPhone such asthe iPhone, and/or any other portable, mobile, hand held devices, orfixed wireless interface such as a M2M device, etc. In one embodiment,the client devices 150, host server 100, and application server 110 arecoupled via a network 106 and/or a network 108. In some embodiments, thedevices 150 and host server 100 may be directly connected to oneanother.

The input mechanism on client devices 150 can include touch screenkeypad (including single touch, multi-touch, gesture sensing in 2D or3D, etc.), a physical keypad, a mouse, a pointer, a track pad, motiondetector (e.g., including 1-axis, 2-axis, 3-axis accelerometer, etc.), alight sensor, capacitance sensor, resistance sensor, temperature sensor,proximity sensor, a piezoelectric device, device orientation detector(e.g., electronic compass, tilt sensor, rotation sensor, gyroscope,accelerometer), or a combination of the above.

Signals received or detected indicating user activity at client devices150 through one or more of the above input mechanism, or others, can beused in the disclosed technology in acquiring context awareness at theclient device 150. Context awareness at client devices 150 generallyincludes, by way of example but not limitation, client device 150operation or state acknowledgement, management, useractivity/behavior/interaction awareness, detection, sensing, tracking,trending, and/or application (e.g., mobile applications) type, behavior,activity, operating state, etc.

Context awareness in the present disclosure also includes knowledge anddetection of network side contextual data and can include networkinformation such as network capacity, bandwidth, traffic, type ofnetwork/connectivity, and/or any other operational state data. Networkside contextual data can be received from and/or queried from networkservice providers (e.g., cell provider 112 and/or Internet serviceproviders) of the network 106 and/or network 108 (e.g., by the hostserver and/or devices 150). In addition to application context awarenessas determined from the client 150 side, the application contextawareness may also be received from or obtained/queried from therespective application/service providers 110 (by the host 100 and/orclient devices 150).

The host server 100 can use, for example, contextual informationobtained for client devices 150, networks 106/108, applications (e.g.,mobile applications), application server/provider 110, or anycombination of the above, to manage the traffic in the system to satisfydata needs of the client devices 150 (e.g., to satisfy application orany other request including HTTP request). In one embodiment, thetraffic is managed by the host server 100 to satisfy data requests madein response to explicit or non-explicit user 103 requests and/ordevice/application maintenance tasks. The traffic can be managed suchthat network consumption, for example, use of the cellular network isconserved for effective and efficient bandwidth utilization. Inaddition, the host server 100 can manage and coordinate such traffic inthe system such that use of device 150 side resources (e.g., includingbut not limited to battery power consumption, radio use,processor/memory use) are optimized with a general philosophy forresource conservation while still optimizing performance and userexperience.

For example, in context of battery conservation, the device 150 canobserve user activity (for example, by observing user keystrokes,backlight status, or other signals via one or more input mechanisms,etc.) and alters device 150 behaviors. The device 150 can also requestthe host server 100 to alter the behavior for network resourceconsumption based on user activity or behavior.

In one embodiment, the traffic management for resource conservation isperformed using a distributed system between the host server 100 andclient device 150. The distributed system can include proxy server andcache components on the server side 100 and on the device/client side,for example, as shown by the server cache 135 on the server 100 side andthe local cache 185 on the client 150 side.

Functions and techniques disclosed for context aware traffic managementfor resource conservation in networks (e.g., network 106 and/or 108) anddevices 150, reside in a distributed proxy and cache system. The proxyand cache system can be distributed between, and reside on, a givenclient device 150 in part or in whole and/or host server 100 in part orin whole. The distributed proxy and cache system are illustrated withfurther reference to the example diagram shown in FIG. 1C. Functions andtechniques performed by the proxy and cache components in the clientdevice 150, the host server 100, and the related components therein aredescribed, respectively, in detail with further reference to theexamples of FIG. 4A-5D.

In one embodiment, client devices 150 communicate with the host server100 and/or the application server 110 over network 106, which can be acellular network and/or a broadband network. To facilitate overalltraffic management between devices 150 and various applicationservers/content providers 110 to implement network (bandwidthutilization) and device resource (e.g., battery consumption), the hostserver 100 can communicate with the application server/providers 110over the network 108, which can include the Internet (e.g., a broadbandnetwork).

In general, the networks 106 and/or 108, over which the client devices150, the host server 100, and/or application server 110 communicate, maybe a cellular network, a broadband network, a telephonic network, anopen network, such as the Internet, or a private network, such as anintranet and/or the extranet, or any combination thereof. For example,the Internet can provide file transfer, remote log in, email, news, RSS,cloud-based services, instant messaging, visual voicemail, push mail,VoIP, and other services through any known or convenient protocol, suchas, but is not limited to the TCP/IP protocol, UDP, HTTP, DNS, FTP,UPnP, NSF, ISDN, PDH, RS-232, SDH, SONET, etc.

The networks 106 and/or 108 can be any collection of distinct networksoperating wholly or partially in conjunction to provide connectivity tothe client devices 150 and the host server 100 and may appear as one ormore networks to the serviced systems and devices. In one embodiment,communications to and from the client devices 150 can be achieved by, anopen network, such as the Internet, or a private network, broadbandnetwork, such as an intranet and/or the extranet. In one embodiment,communications can be achieved by a secure communications protocol, suchas secure sockets layer (SSL), or transport layer security (TLS).

In addition, communications can be achieved via one or more networks,such as, but are not limited to, one or more of WiMax, a Local AreaNetwork (LAN), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a Personal areanetwork (PAN), a Campus area network (CAN), a Metropolitan area network(MAN), a Wide area network (WAN), a Wireless wide area network (WWAN),or any broadband network, and further enabled with technologies such as,by way of example, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),Personal Communications Service (PCS), Bluetooth, WiFi, Fixed WirelessData, 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G, IMT-Advanced, pre-4G, LTE Advanced, mobileWiMax, WiMax 2, WirelessMAN-Advanced networks, enhanced data rates forGSM evolution (EDGE), General packet radio service (GPRS), enhancedGPRS, iBurst, UMTS, HSPDA, HSUPA, HSPA, UMTS-TDD, 1xRTT, EV-DO,messaging protocols such as, TCP/IP, SMS, MMS, extensible messaging andpresence protocol (XMPP), real time messaging protocol (RTMP), instantmessaging and presence protocol (IMPP), instant messaging, USSD, IRC, orany other wireless data networks, broadband networks, or messagingprotocols.

FIG. 1C illustrates an example diagram of a proxy and cache systemdistributed between the host server 100 and device 150 which facilitatesnetwork traffic management between the device 150 and an applicationserver or content provider 110, or other servers such as an ad server120A, promotional content server 120B, or an e-coupon server 120C forresource conservation and content caching. The proxy system distributedamong the host server 100 and the device 150 can further optimizesignaling in a wireless network for traffic utilizing proprietary(non-standard) and non-proprietary (e.g., HTTP) protocols.

The distributed proxy and cache system can include, for example, theproxy server 125 (e.g., remote proxy) and the server cache, 135components on the server side. The server-side proxy 125 and cache 135can, as illustrated, reside internal to the host server 100. Inaddition, the proxy server 125 and cache 135 on the server-side can bepartially or wholly external to the host server 100 and in communicationvia one or more of the networks 106 and 108. For example, the proxyserver 125 may be external to the host server and the server cache 135may be maintained at the host server 100. Alternatively, the proxyserver 125 may be within the host server 100 while the server cache isexternal to the host server 100. In addition, each of the proxy server125 and the cache 135 may be partially internal to the host server 100and partially external to the host server 100. The applicationserver/content provider 110 can by any server including third partyservers or service/content providers further including advertisement,promotional content, publication, or electronic coupon servers orservices. Similarly, separate advertisement servers 120A, promotionalcontent servers 120B, and/or e-Coupon servers 120C as applicationservers or content providers are illustrated by way of example.

The distributed system can also, include, in one embodiment, client-sidecomponents, including by way of example but not limitation, a localproxy 175 (e.g., a mobile client on a mobile device) and/or a localcache 185, which can, as illustrated, reside internal to the device 150(e.g., a mobile device).

In addition, the client-side proxy 175 and local cache 185 can bepartially or wholly external to the device 150 and in communication viaone or more of the networks 106 and 108. For example, the local proxy175 may be external to the device 150 and the local cache 185 may bemaintained at the device 150. Alternatively, the local proxy 175 may bewithin the device 150 while the local cache 185 is external to thedevice 150. In addition, each of the proxy 175 and the cache 185 may bepartially internal to the host server 100 and partially external to thehost server 100.

In one embodiment, the distributed system can include an optionalcaching proxy server 199. The caching proxy server 199 can be acomponent which is operated by the application server/content provider110, the host server 100, or a network service provider 112, and or anycombination of the above to facilitate network traffic management fornetwork and device resource conservation. Proxy server 199 can be used,for example, for caching content to be provided to the device 150, forexample, from one or more of, the application server/provider 110, hostserver 100, and/or a network service provider 112. Content caching canalso be entirely or partially performed by the remote proxy 125 tosatisfy application requests or other data requests at the device 150.

In context aware traffic management and optimization for resourceconservation in a network (e.g., cellular or other wireless networks),characteristics of user activity/behavior and/or application behavior ata mobile device (e.g., any wireless device) 150 can be tracked by thelocal proxy 175 and communicated, over the network 106 to the proxyserver 125 component in the host server 100, for example, as connectionmetadata. The proxy server 125 which in turn is coupled to theapplication server/provider 110 provides content and data to satisfyrequests made at the device 150.

In addition, the local proxy 175 can identify and retrieve mobile deviceproperties, including one or more of, battery level, network that thedevice is registered on, radio state, or whether the mobile device isbeing used (e.g., interacted with by a user). In some instances, thelocal proxy 175 can delay, expedite (prefetch), and/or modify data priorto transmission to the proxy server 125, when appropriate, as will befurther detailed with references to the description associated with theexamples of FIG. 4-5.

The local database 185 can be included in the local proxy 175 or coupledto the local proxy 175 and can be queried for a locally stored responseto the data request prior to the data request being forwarded on to theproxy server 125. Locally cached responses can be used by the localproxy 175 to satisfy certain application requests of the mobile device150, by retrieving cached content stored in the cache storage 185, whenthe cached content is still valid.

Similarly, the proxy server 125 of the host server 100 can also delay,expedite, or modify data from the local proxy prior to transmission tothe content sources (e.g., the application server/content provider 110).In addition, the proxy server 125 uses device properties and connectionmetadata to generate rules for satisfying request of applications on themobile device 150. The proxy server 125 can gather real time trafficinformation about requests of applications for later use in optimizingsimilar connections with the mobile device 150 or other mobile devices.

In general, the local proxy 175 and the proxy server 125 are transparentto the multiple applications executing on the mobile device. The localproxy 175 is generally transparent to the operating system or platformof the mobile device and may or may not be specific to devicemanufacturers. In some instances, the local proxy 175 is optionallycustomizable in part or in whole to be device specific. In someembodiments, the local proxy 175 may be bundled into a wireless model, afirewall, and/or a router.

In one embodiment, the host server 100 can in some instances, utilizethe store and forward functions of a short message service center (SMSC)112, such as that provided by the network service provider, incommunicating with the device 150 in achieving network trafficmanagement. Note that 112 can also utilize any other type of alternativechannel including USSD or other network control mechanisms. As will befurther described with reference to the example of FIG. 5, the hostserver 100 can forward content or HTTP responses to the SMSC 112 suchthat it is automatically forwarded to the device 150 if available, andfor subsequent forwarding if the device 150 is not currently available.

In general, the disclosed distributed proxy and cache system allowsoptimization of network usage, for example, by serving requests from thelocal cache 185, the local proxy 175 reduces the number of requests thatneed to be satisfied over the network 106. Further, the local proxy 175and the proxy server 125 may filter irrelevant data from thecommunicated data. In addition, the local proxy 175 and the proxy server125 can also accumulate low priority data and send it in batches toavoid the protocol overhead of sending individual data fragments. Thelocal proxy 175 and the proxy server 125 can also compress or transcodethe traffic, reducing the amount of data sent over the network 106and/or 108. The signaling traffic in the network 106 and/or 108 can bereduced, as the networks are now used less often and the network trafficcan be synchronized among individual applications.

With respect to the battery life of the mobile device 150, by servingapplication or content requests from the local cache 185, the localproxy 175 can reduce the number of times the radio module is powered up.The local proxy 175 and the proxy server 125 can work in conjunction toaccumulate low priority data and send it in batches to reduce the numberof times and/or amount of time when the radio is powered up. The localproxy 175 can synchronize the network use by performing the batched datatransfer for all connections simultaneously.

FIG. 1D illustrates an example diagram of the logical architecture of adistributed proxy and cache system.

The distributed system can include, for example the followingcomponents:

Client Side Proxy 175: a component installed in the Smartphone, mobiledevice or wireless device 150 that interfaces with device's operatingsystem, as well as with data services and applications installed in thedevice. The client side proxy 175 is typically compliant with and ableto operate with standard or state of the art networking protocols.Additional components and features of the client-side proxy 175 areillustrated with further references to the examples of FIG. 2A-2B andFIG. 4A-4C.

The server side proxy 125 can include one or more servers that caninterface with third party application servers (e.g., 199), mobileoperator's network (which can be proxy 199 or an additional server thatis not illustrated) and/or the client side proxy 175. In general, theserver side proxy 125 can be compliant with and is generally able tooperate with standard or state of the art networking protocols and/orspecifications for interacting with mobile network elements and/or thirdparty servers. Additional components and features of the server-sideproxy 125 are illustrated with further references to the examples ofFIG. 3A-3B and FIG. 5A-5D.

Reporting and Usage Analytics Server 174: The Reporting and UsageAnalytics system or component 174 can collect information from theclient side 175 and/or the server side 125 and provides the necessarytools for producing reports and usage analytics can used for analyzingtraffic and signaling data. Such analytics can be used by the proxysystem in managing/reducing network traffic or by the network operatorin monitoring their networks for possible improvements and enhancements.Note that the reporting and usage analytics system/component 174 asillustrated, may be a server separate from the server-side proxy 125, orit may be a component of the server-side proxy 125, residing partiallyor wholly therein.

FIG. 1E illustrates an example diagram showing the architecture ofclient side components in a distributed proxy and cache system.

The client side components 175 can include software components or agentsinstalled on the mobile device that enables traffic optimization andperforms the related functionalities on the client side. Components ofthe client side proxy 175 can operate transparently for end users andapplications 163. The client side proxy 175 can be installed on mobiledevices for optimization to take place, and it can effectuate changes onthe data routes. Once data routing is modified, the client side proxy175 can respond to application requests to service providers or hostservers, in addition to or instead of letting those applications 163access data network directly. In general, applications 163 on the mobiledevice will not notice that the client side proxy 175 is responding totheir requests. Some example components of the client side proxy 175 aredescribed as follows:

Device State Monitor 121: The device state monitor 121 can beresponsible for identifying several states and metrics in the device,such as network status, display status, battery level, etc. such thatthe remaining components in the client side proxy 175 can operate andmake decisions according to device state, acting in an optimal way ineach state.

Traffic Recognizer 122: The traffic recognizer 122 analyzes all trafficbetween the wireless device applications 163 and their respective hostservers in order to identify recurrent patterns. Supported transportprotocols include, for example, DNS, HTTP and HTTPS, such that trafficthrough those ports is directed to the client side proxy 175. Whileanalyzing traffic, the client side proxy 175 can identify recurringpolling patterns which can be candidates to be performed remotely by theserver side proxy 125, and send to the protocol optimizer 123.

Protocol Optimizer 123: The protocol optimizer 123 can implement thelogic of serving recurrent request from the local cache 185 instead ofallowing those request go over the network to the serviceprovider/application host server. One is its tasks is to eliminate orminimize the need to send requests to the network, positively affectingnetwork congestion and device battery life.

Local Cache 185: The local cache 185 can store responses to recurrentrequests, and can be used by the Protocol Optimizer 123 to sendresponses to the applications 163.

Traffic Scheduler 124: The traffic scheduler 124 can temporally movecommunications to optimize usage of device resources by unifyingkeep-alive signaling so that some or all of the different applications163 can send keep-alive messages at the same time (traffic pipelining).Traffic scheduler 124 may also decide to delay transmission of data thatis not relevant at a given time (for example, when the device is notactively used).

Policy Manager 125: The policy manager 125 can store and enforce trafficoptimization and reporting policies provisioned by a Policy ManagementServer (PMS). At the client side proxy 175 first start, trafficoptimization and reporting policies (policy profiles) that is to beenforced in a particular device can be provisioned by the PolicyManagement Server.

Watch Dog 127: The watch dog 127 can monitor the client side proxy 175operating availability. In case the client side proxy 175 is not workingdue to a failure or because it has been disabled, the watchdog 127 canreset DNS routing rules information and can restore original DNSsettings for the device to continue working until the client side proxy175 service is restored.

Reporting Agent 126: The reporting agent 126 can gather informationabout the events taking place in the device and sends the information tothe Reporting Server. Event details are stored temporarily in the deviceand transferred to reporting server only when the data channel state isactive. If the client side proxy 175 doesn't send records withintwenty-four hours, the reporting agent 126 may attempt to open theconnection and send recorded entries or, in case there are no entries instorage, an empty reporting packet. All reporting settings areconfigured in the policy management server.

Push Client 128: The push client 128 can be responsible for the trafficto between the server side proxy 125 and the client side proxy 175. Thepush client 128 can send out service requests like content updaterequests and policy update requests, and receives updates to thoserequests from the server side proxy 125. In addition, push client 128can send data to a reporting server (e.g., the reporting and/or usageanalytics system which may be internal to or external to the server sideproxy 125).

The proxy server 199 has a wide variety of uses, from speeding up a webserver by caching repeated requests, to caching web, DNS and othernetwork lookups for a group of clients sharing network resources. Theproxy server 199 is optional. The distributed proxy and cache system(125 and/or 175) allows for a flexible proxy configuration using eitherthe proxy 199, additional proxy(s) in operator's network, or integratingboth proxies 199 and an operator's or other third-party's proxy.

FIG. IF illustrates a diagram of the example components on the serverside of the distributed proxy and cache system.

The server side 125 of the distributed system can include, for example arelay server 142, which interacts with a traffic harmonizer 144, apolling server 145 and/or a policy management server 143. Each of thevarious components can communicate with the client side proxy 175, orother third party (e.g., application server/service provider 110 and/orother proxy 199) and/or a reporting and usage analytics system. Someexample components of the server side proxy 125 is described as follows:

Relay Server 142: The relay server 142 is the routing agent in thedistributed proxy architecture. The relay server 142 manages connectionsand communications with components on the client-side proxy 175installed on devices and provides an administrative interface forreports, provisioning, platform setup, and so on.

Notification Server 141: The notification server 141 is a module able toconnect to an operator's SMSC gateways and deliver SMS notifications tothe client-side proxy 175. SMS notifications can be used when an IP linkis not currently active, in order to avoid the client-side proxy 175from activating a connection over the wireless data channel, thusavoiding additional signaling traffic. However, if the IP connectionhappens to be open for some other traffic, the notification server 141can use it for sending the notifications to the client-side proxy 175.The user database can store operational data including endpoint(MSISDN), organization and Notification server 141 gateway for eachresource (URIs or URLs).

Traffic Harmonizer 144: The traffic harmonizer 144 can be responsiblefor communication between the client-side proxy 175 and the pollingserver 145. The traffic harmonizer 144 connects to the polling server145 directly or through the data storage 130, and to the client over anyopen or proprietary protocol such as the 7TP, implemented for trafficoptimization. The traffic harmonizer 144 can be also responsible fortraffic pipelining on the server side: if there's cached content in thedatabase for the same client, this can be sent over to the client in onemessage.

Polling Server 145: The polling server 145 can poll third partyapplication servers on behalf of applications that are being optimized).If a change occurs (i.e. new data available) for an application, thepolling server 145 can report to the traffic harmonizer 144 which inturn sends a notification message to the client-side proxy 175 for it toclear the cache and allow application to poll application serverdirectly.

Policy Management Server 143: The policy management server (PMS) 143allows administrators to configure and store policies for theclient-side proxies 175 (device clients). It also allows administratorsto notify the client-side proxies 175 about policy changes. Using thepolicy management server 143, each operator can configure the policiesto work in the most efficient way for the unique characteristics of eachparticular mobile operator's network.

Reporting and Usage Analytics Component: The Reporting and UsageAnalytics component or system collects information from the client side175 and/or from the server side 125, and provides the tools forproducing reports and usage analytics that operators can use foranalyzing application signaling and data consumption.

FIG. 2A depicts a block diagram illustrating an example of client-sidecomponents in a distributed proxy and cache system, further including aproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401. FIG. 2B depictsa block diagram illustrating additional components in theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401 shown in theexample of FIG. 2A. In one embodiment, the proprietary/non-standardprotocol adaptation engine 401 can be a part of the local proxy 275.Alternately, the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401can be implemented separately outside of the local proxy 275.

The proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401 can include,for example, a transaction detection engine 402 having a protocolanalyzer 406, a transaction pattern detection engine 403, a binarymatching and normalization engine 405, a routing rule optimizer 442, apattern replay module 444, an application byte stream generator 411, abyte stream pattern recognition engine 439, a pattern change detectionengine 441, a TCP session manager 413 and/or a heartbeat manager 443.Additional or less modules/engines can be included. The variouscomponents of the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine401 on the mobile device or user equipment (UE) 250 can singularly or inany combination perform the following functions and features related tosignaling optimization in a wireless network for traffic utilizingproprietary and non-proprietary protocols.

In one embodiment, the proxy server 325 replicates an applicationrequest or transaction by opening a TCP socket and performing handshakesautonomously. Such capability, however, usually needs to account forprotocol-specific formatting, sizing or other details. In anotherembodiment, the local proxy 275 or the proprietary/non-standard protocoladaptation engine 401 captures the TCP stream from an application andpasses it on as a byte stream via a byte stream interface provided bythe application byte stream generator 411. A byte stream can be read orcan be written to by an application without having to account forprotocol-specific formatting, sizing, and other details.

The TCP session manager 413 can, in one embodiment, manage TCP sessionsincluding establishing of TCP sessions with a proxy server (e.g., proxyserver 325) and/or the content server (e.g., content server 110) andtearing down of TCP sessions. Although the discussion is with respect toTCP sessions, other similar or session based protocols may beimplemented. In one implementation, the TCP session manager 413 canestablish a first TCP session between an application and the local proxy275 or the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401. TheTCP session manager 413 can also establish a TCP session between thelocal proxy 275 (or the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptationengine 401) and a server (e.g., proxy server 325 or theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 501). Referring toFIG. 3B, TCP session manager 513 of the proprietary/non-standardprotocol adaptation engine 501 can further establish a third TCP sessionbetween the proxy server or the proprietary/non-standard protocoladaptation engine 501 and the content server (e.g., applicationserver/content provider 110 of FIG. 1B-1C). Byte streams from theapplication can be passed over the first, second and third TCP sessionswhen needed. The TCP session manager 413/513 may also allow theapplication to establish the necessary handshakes.

In one embodiment, the transaction detection engine 402 can detect andidentify transactions based on analysis of the protocol headers andother protocol peculiarities. Such protocol specific analysis can beperformed by a protocol analyzer 406. For example, the protocol analyzer406 can detect transactions in HTTP protocol based on HTTP header,formatting, encoding, and the like.

In another embodiment, the transaction detection engine 402 can beprotocol agnostic, and can detect and/or identify transactions withoutknowing or understanding details of the underlying protocols. Forexample, the transaction detection engine 402 can directly monitor bytestreams captured from applications (e.g., by the application byte streamgenerator 411 interface) and detect and/or identify transactions basedon observed and/or extracted patterns of byte streams and/or matching ordetermining content in byte streams. In one implementation, for example,the transaction pattern detection engine 403 can monitor, detect and/orextract various patterns embedded in byte streams corresponding totransactions from applications. One such pattern can be idle timebetween transactions. The pattern detection engine 403 can monitor bytestreams from an application over time, and detect an idle time of twominutes occurring in between transactions, without knowing orunderstanding the details of the protocol used by the application.

Other patterns that can be identified or extracted can resemble thoseidentified by the distributed proxy system (e.g., the local proxy 275and/or the proxy server 325) for HTTP or other standard protocols. Forexample, the pattern detection engine 403 can detect periodic,increasing periodic, and the like pattern of byte streams fromapplications. In one implementation, the pattern detection engine canalso detect patterns based on bytes that are first sent by the server(e.g., proxy server 325 or the proprietary/non-standard protocoladaptation engine 501 and responded to by the local proxy 275 or theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401, bytes sent byone party only, or sent by both parties at different intervals. It wouldnot be possible to identify these cases for transactions within HTTPprotocol or other standardized protocols. In one embodiment, it is alsopossible to identify multiple patterns within the same byte stream, or apattern within otherwise unknown stream that continues to be streamed asbinary. With reference to FIG. 1A-1, a pattern characterized byrecurring 175 bytes upstream data and 297 bytes downstream data isdepicted. With reference to FIG. 1A-2, a pattern characterized byperiodic transactions involving 8 byte upstream data and 8 bytedownstream data is depicted. Similarly, in FIG. 1A-3, a patterncharacterized by recurring proxy stream entries of 680/1268 bytestransaction inside an SSL stream from/to an application is depicted.

In one embodiment, the byte stream pattern recognition engine 439 canperform different pattern recognition analyses on the content in thebinary streams. For example, the byte stream pattern recognition engine439 can detect when the value of binary data has been incremented by afactor, such as one, two, three, etc. By way of another example, thebyte stream pattern recognition engine 439 can also detect the timestamp in a binary stream. In one implementation, the byte stream patternrecognition engine can detect presence of a random part in a binarystream. By detecting increments, time stamps, random part in binarystreams, the pattern recognition engine 439 can disassociate suchauxiliary or secondary data from the actual bytes, which can then beused to determine, for example, a change in the content of a binarystream, and thereby a change in the pattern of the binary stream (e.g.,by the pattern change detection engine 441). For example, the bytestream pattern recognition engine 439 can modify the binary stream todecrement the increment factor, the time stamp, and normalize out therandom portion. In one embodiment, the binary matching and normalizationengine 405 can analyze content in byte streams to determine contentsimilarity. The content similarity can be established by exact or fuzzybinary matches and binary-level normalizations can be applied toaccommodate protocol-specificities, when determined. The pattern changedetection engine 441 can detect any change in the transaction pattern byusing binary matching and normalization engine 405 alone, or togetherwith the byte stream pattern recognition engine 439. In oneimplementation, content of a byte stream from an application can bematched with content of byte stream corresponding to the identifiedpattern using engine 405 and/or 439 to determine whether the twocontents are the same, similar, or approximately the same (e.g., samecontent but with different time stamp, increment factor, a randomportion, etc.). Based on the result of the comparison, the patternchange detection engine can determine whether there is a change in thepattern, and if so, the engine can alert or signal the TCP sessionmanager 413 to establish or re-establish a session with the proxy serverto deliver the changed content.

In one embodiment, the pattern replay module 444 can be triggered toreplay or replicate an identified pattern to an application, when theTCP session between the mobile device or local proxy and the proxyserver is disconnected. The pattern replay includes listening to,receiving or capturing byte streams from the application, and if thebyte stream indicates no change in the content (e.g., as determined bythe pattern change detection engine 441), providing previously capturedbyte stream (e.g., from local cache 485) to the application in response.This allows the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401to avoid replaying the entire transaction. The proprietary/non-standardprotocol adaptation engine 501 may also include a pattern replay module544 that replays a transaction pattern when the TCP session between theproxy server 325 and the local proxy or the proprietary/non-standardprotocol adaptation engine 401 is disconnected.

In one embodiment, to avoid the need to route the TCP or other protocolsession through the proxy server 325 before the optimization can start,the routing rule optimizer of the proprietary/non-standard protocoladaptation engine 401 can route the session initially directly to theoriginal destination (e.g., an application server/content provider 110),and once a pattern is identified (e.g., by the proprietary/non-standardprotocol adaptation engine 401), either tear down the connection andhave the next session established through the proxy server once theapplication on the mobile device 250 re-establishes the connection, orwait for the next connection to be established, and then route itthrough the proxy server 325 or the proprietary/non-standard protocoladaptation engine 501.

If optimization is identified to not be possible for a given applicationon the mobile device 250 after starting to route the traffic through theproxy server 325 or the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptationengine 501, the routing rule optimizer can decide to return to routingthe traffic directly to the content server (e.g., application/contentserver 110). In one implementation, routing rules may be configuredmanually as well, for example, to whitelist or blacklist the capabilityfor specific applications, TCP ports etc. (e.g., via the routing ruleoptimizer 442 or 542)

Some applications can use periodic transactions to maintain knowledge ofa user's status (e.g., presence information) at the application/contentserver (e.g., server 110). The application status can thus change if thelocal proxy 275 or the or the proprietary/non-standard protocoladaptation engine 401 is no longer sending the periodic transactions.Similarly, if the proxy server 325 or the proprietary/non-standardprotocol adaptation engine 501 keeps the connection open while theactual mobile application on the mobile device 250, local proxy 275 orthe or the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401 wouldbe, for example, disconnected or turned off, the user's status canappear incorrect.

In one embodiment, this is resolved by the local proxy 275 or theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401 sendingheartbeats by the heartbeat manager 443 separately to the proxy server325 or the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 501(e.g., in a radio-aware fashion to not cause radio to go up). If theproxy server 325 or the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptationengine 501 does not get these heartbeats it can then disconnect the TCPsession 3 (or other protocol session) so that the mobile application onthe mobile device 250 via local proxy 275 or the or theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401 can appearcorrectly to be offline and treated as an offline/disconnectedapplication.

In one embodiment, the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptationengine 401 (and 501) can include a protocol encoding/decoding module445. In implementations where a binary stream is encapsulated within asecurity and/or encryption protocol such as Transport Layer Security(TLS), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and the like, the encoding/decodingmodule may include capabilities for decoding such protocols to extractthe binary stream.

FIG. 3A depicts a block diagram illustrating an example of server-sidecomponents in a distributed proxy and cache system, further including aproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 501. FIG. 3B depictsa block diagram illustrating additional components in theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 501 shown in theexample of FIG. 3A.

Referring to FIG. 3B, the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptationengine 501 can include, for example, a transaction detection engine 502having a protocol analyzer 506, transaction pattern detection engine 503and a binary matching and normalization engine 505, a routing ruleoptimizer 542, a pattern replay module 544, an application byte streamgenerator 511, a byte stream pattern recognition engine 539, a patternchange detection engine 541, a TCP session manager 513, a heartbeatmanager 543 and/or a protocol encoding/decoding module. Additional orless modules/engines can be included.

The various components of the proprietary/non-standard protocoladaptation engine 501 on the remote proxy or proxy server 325 cansingularly or in any combination perform the above described functionsand features related to signaling optimization in a wireless network fortraffic utilizing proprietary and non-proprietary protocols. The variouscomponents of the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine501 can also alone or in combination perform the above describedfunctions with the mobile device or user equipment (UE) side component(e.g., the local proxy 275 and/or the proprietary/non-standard protocoladaptation engine 401 related to optimize signaling in a wirelessnetwork for traffic utilizing proprietary (non-standard) andnon-proprietary (standard) protocols.

In one embodiment, many of the example components of theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 501 on the proxyserver can perform similar/same functions as the example components ofthe proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401 on the localproxy. For example, the engine 501 can capture data for an applicationreceived from the content server. In one implementation, the applicationbyte stream generator 511 can also provide a similar byte streaminterface to capture data stream from the content server without havingto understand the details of the protocol used.

The TCP session manager 513 can, in one embodiment, manage TCP sessionsincluding establishing of TCP sessions with the content server and thelocal proxy and tearing down of TCP sessions. Although the discussion iswith respect to TCP, other similar or session based protocols may beimplemented. Byte streams from the content server can be passed over tothe local proxy via the TCP sessions. The TCP session manager 513 mayalso coordinate the establishment of necessary handshakes between theapplication and the content server.

In one embodiment, the transaction detection engine 502 can detect andidentify transactions based on analysis of the protocol headers andother protocol peculiarities. Such protocol specific analysis can beperformed by a protocol analyzer 506. For example, the protocol analyzer506 can detect transactions in HTTP protocol based on HTTP header. Inanother embodiment, the transaction detection engine 502 can be protocolagnostic, and can detect and/or identify transactions without knowing orunderstanding the underlying protocols. For example, the transactiondetection engine 502 can detect and/or identify transactions based onobserved and/or extracted patterns and/or content matching. In oneimplementation, for example, a pattern detection engine 503 can detectand/or extract various patterns embedded in byte streams correspondingto transactions from applications and/or client server. One such patterncan be idle time between transactions. The pattern detection engine canmonitor byte streams from an application/client server over time, anddetect an idle time of two minutes occurring in between transactions.The detection can occur without any protocol-specific understanding ofthe binary stream comprising the transaction. Various other patterns asdescribed with respect to the proprietary/non-standard protocoladaptation engine 401 can be identified or extracted.

In one embodiment, the byte stream pattern recognition engine 539 canperform different pattern recognition analyses on the content in thebinary streams. In one embodiment, the binary matching and normalizationengine 505 can analyze content in byte streams to determine contentsimilarity. The content similarity can be established by exact or fuzzybinary matches and binary-level normalizations can be applied toaccommodate protocol-specificities, when determined. The pattern changedetection engine 541 can detect any change in the transaction pattern byusing binary matching and normalization engine 505 alone, or togetherwith the byte stream pattern recognition engine 539. In oneimplementation, content of a byte stream from an application can bematched with content of byte stream corresponding to the identifiedpattern using engine 505 and/or 539 to determine whether the twocontents are the same, similar, or approximately the same (e.g., samecontent but with different time stamp, increment factor, a randomportion, etc.). Based on the result of the comparison, the patternchange detection engine can determine whether there is a change in thepattern, and if so, the engine can alert or signal the TCP sessionmanager 413 to establish or re-establish a session with the local proxyto deliver the changed content received from the content server to theapplication via the local proxy.

In one embodiment, the pattern replay module 544 can be triggered toreplay or replicate an identified pattern to the content server, whenthe TCP session between the mobile device or local proxy and the proxyserver is disconnected. In one embodiment, if optimization is identifiedto not be possible for a given application/content server after startingto route the traffic via the proprietary/non-standard protocoladaptation engine 501, the routing rule optimizer 542 can decide toreturn to routing the traffic directly to the content server (e.g.,application/content server 110). In one implementation, routing rulesmay be configured manually as well, for example, to whitelist orblacklist the capability for specific applications, TCP ports etc.(e.g., via the routing rule optimizer 542)

In one embodiment, the heartbeat manager 543 can receive heartbeatmessages from the local proxy 275 or the or the proprietary/non-standardprotocol adaptation engine 401, and based on the heartbeats determinewhether to continue or disconnect the TCP session with the contentserver to allow the content server to determine the correct status ofthe user/mobile device.

In one embodiment, the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptationengine 501 can include a protocol encoding/decoding module 545. Inimplementations where a binary stream is encapsulated within a securityand/or encryption protocol such as Transport Layer Security (TLS),Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and the like, the encoding/decoding modulemay include capabilities for decoding such protocols to extract thebinary stream.

FIG. 4A depicts a block diagram illustrating an example of client-sidecomponents in a distributed proxy and cache system residing on a mobiledevice (e.g., wireless device) 250 that manages traffic in a wirelessnetwork (or broadband network) for resource conservation, contentcaching, and/or traffic management. The client-side proxy (or localproxy 275) can further categorize mobile traffic and/or implementdelivery policies based on application behavior, content priority, useractivity, and/or user expectations.

The device 250, which can be a portable or mobile device (e.g., anywireless device), such as a portable phone, generally includes, forexample, a network interface 208 an operating system 204, a context API206, and mobile applications which may be proxy-unaware 210 orproxy-aware 220. Note that the device 250 is specifically illustrated inthe example of FIG. 2A as a mobile device, such is not a limitation andthat device 250 may be any wireless, broadband, portable/mobile ornon-portable device able to receive, transmit signals to satisfy datarequests over a network including wired or wireless networks (e.g.,WiFi, cellular, Bluetooth, LAN, WAN, etc.).

The network interface 208 can be a networking module that enables thedevice 250 to mediate data in a network with an entity that is externalto the host server 250, through any known and/or convenientcommunications protocol supported by the host and the external entity.The network interface 208 can include one or more of a network adaptorcard, a wireless network interface card (e.g., SMS interface, WiFiinterface, interfaces for various generations of mobile communicationstandards including but not limited to 2G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, LTE, etc.,),Bluetooth, or whether or not the connection is via a router, an accesspoint, a wireless router, a switch, a multilayer switch, a protocolconverter, a gateway, a bridge, a bridge router, a hub, a digital mediareceiver, and/or a repeater.

Device 250 can further include, client-side components of thedistributed proxy and cache system which can include, a local proxy 275(e.g., a mobile client of a mobile device) and a cache 285. In oneembodiment, the local proxy 275 includes a user activity module 215, aproxy API 225, a request/transaction manager 235, a caching policymanager 245 having an application protocol module 248, a traffic shapingengine 255, and/or a connection manager 265. The traffic shaping engine255 may further include an alignment module 256 and/or a batching module257, the connection manager 265 may further include a radio controller266. The request/transaction manager 235 can further include anapplication behavior detector 236 and/or a prioritization engine 241,the application behavior detector 236 may further include a patterndetector 237 and/or and application profile generator 239. Additional orless components/modules/engines can be included in the local proxy 275and each illustrated component.

As used herein, a “module,” “a manager,” a “handler,” a “detector,” an“interface,” a “controller,” a “normalizer,” a “generator,” an“invalidator,” or an “engine” includes a general purpose, dedicated orshared processor and, typically, firmware or software modules that areexecuted by the processor. Depending upon implementation-specific orother considerations, the module, manager, handler, detector, interface,controller, normalizer, generator, invalidator, or engine can becentralized or its functionality distributed. The module, manager,handler, detector, interface, controller, normalizer, generator,invalidator, or engine can include general or special purpose hardware,firmware, or software embodied in a computer-readable (storage) mediumfor execution by the processor.

As used herein, a computer-readable medium or computer-readable storagemedium is intended to include all mediums that are statutory (e.g., inthe United States, under 35 U.S.C. 101), and to specifically exclude allmediums that are non-statutory in nature to the extent that theexclusion is necessary for a claim that includes the computer-readable(storage) medium to be valid. Known statutory computer-readable mediumsinclude hardware (e.g., registers, random access memory (RAM),non-volatile (NV) storage, to name a few), but may or may not be limitedto hardware.

In one embodiment, a portion of the distributed proxy and cache systemfor network traffic management resides in or is in communication withdevice 250, including local proxy 275 (mobile client) and/or cache 285.The local proxy 275 can provide an interface on the device 250 for usersto access device applications and services including email, IM, voicemail, visual voicemail, feeds, Internet, games, productivity tools, orother applications, etc.

The proxy 275 is generally application independent and can be used byapplications (e.g., both proxy-aware and proxy-unaware applications 210and 220 and other mobile applications) to open TCP connections to aremote server (e.g., the server 100 in the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and/orserver proxy 125/325 shown in the examples of FIG. 1B and FIG. 5A). Insome instances, the local proxy 275 includes a proxy API 225 which canbe optionally used to interface with proxy-aware applications 220 (orapplications (e.g., mobile applications) on a mobile device (e.g., anywireless device)).

The applications 210 and 220 can generally include any user application,widgets, software, HTTP-based application, web browsers, video or othermultimedia streaming or downloading application, video games, socialnetwork applications, email clients, RSS management applications,application stores, document management applications, productivityenhancement applications, etc. The applications can be provided with thedevice OS, by the device manufacturer, by the network service provider,downloaded by the user, or provided by others.

One embodiment of the local proxy 275 includes or is coupled to acontext API 206, as shown. The context API 206 may be a part of theoperating system 204 or device platform or independent of the operatingsystem 204, as illustrated. The operating system 204 can include anyoperating system including but not limited to, any previous, current,and/or future versions/releases of, Windows Mobile, iOS, Android,Symbian, Palm OS, Brew MP, Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME), Blackberry, etc.

The context API 206 may be a plug-in to the operating system 204 or aparticular client/application on the device 250. The context API 206 candetect signals indicative of user or device activity, for example,sensing motion, gesture, device location, changes in device location,device backlight, keystrokes, clicks, activated touch screen, mouseclick or detection of other pointer devices. The context API 206 can becoupled to input devices or sensors on the device 250 to identify thesesignals. Such signals can generally include input received in responseto explicit user input at an input device/mechanism at the device 250and/or collected from ambient signals/contextual cues detected at or inthe vicinity of the device 250 (e.g., light, motion, piezoelectric,etc.).

In one embodiment, the user activity module 215 interacts with thecontext API 206 to identify, determine, infer, detect, compute, predict,and/or anticipate, characteristics of user activity on the device 250.Various inputs collected by the context API 206 can be aggregated by theuser activity module 215 to generate a profile for characteristics ofuser activity. Such a profile can be generated by the user activitymodule 215 with various temporal characteristics. For instance, useractivity profile can be generated in real-time for a given instant toprovide a view of what the user is doing or not doing at a given time(e.g., defined by a time window, in the last minute, in the last 30seconds, etc.), a user activity profile can also be generated for a‘session’ defined by an application or web page that describes thecharacteristics of user behavior with respect to a specific task theyare engaged in on the device 250, or for a specific time period (e.g.,for the last 2 hours, for the last 5 hours).

Additionally, characteristic profiles can be generated by the useractivity module 215 to depict a historical trend for user activity andbehavior (e.g., 1 week, 1 mo., 2 mo., etc.). Such historical profilescan also be used to deduce trends of user behavior, for example, accessfrequency at different times of day, trends for certain days of the week(weekends or week days), user activity trends based on location data(e.g., IP address, GPS, or cell tower coordinate data) or changes inlocation data (e.g., user activity based on user location, or useractivity based on whether the user is on the go, or traveling outside ahome region, etc.) to obtain user activity characteristics.

In one embodiment, user activity module 215 can detect and track useractivity with respect to applications, documents, files, windows, icons,and folders on the device 250. For example, the user activity module 215can detect when an application or window (e.g., a web browser or anyother type of application) has been exited, closed, minimized,maximized, opened, moved into the foreground, or into the background,multimedia content playback, etc.

In one embodiment, characteristics of the user activity on the device250 can be used to locally adjust behavior of the device (e.g., mobiledevice or any wireless device) to optimize its resource consumption suchas battery/power consumption and more generally, consumption of otherdevice resources including memory, storage, and processing power. In oneembodiment, the use of a radio on a device can be adjusted based oncharacteristics of user behavior (e.g., by the radio controller 266 ofthe connection manager 265) coupled to the user activity module 215. Forexample, the radio controller 266 can turn the radio on or off, based oncharacteristics of the user activity on the device 250. In addition, theradio controller 266 can adjust the power mode of the radio (e.g., to bein a higher power mode or lower power mode) depending on characteristicsof user activity.

In one embodiment, characteristics of the user activity on device 250can also be used to cause another device (e.g., other computers, amobile device, a wireless device, or a non-portable device) or server(e.g., host server 100 and 300 in the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG.5A) which can communicate (e.g., via a cellular or other network) withthe device 250 to modify its communication frequency with the device250. The local proxy 275 can use the characteristics information of userbehavior determined by the user activity module 215 to instruct theremote device as to how to modulate its communication frequency (e.g.,decreasing communication frequency, such as data push frequency if theuser is idle, requesting that the remote device notify the device 250 ifnew data, changed, data, or data of a certain level of importancebecomes available, etc.).

In one embodiment, the user activity module 215 can, in response todetermining that user activity characteristics indicate that a user isactive after a period of inactivity, request that a remote device (e.g.,server host server 100 and 300 in the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG.5A) send the data that was buffered as a result of the previouslydecreased communication frequency.

In addition, or in alternative, the local proxy 275 can communicate thecharacteristics of user activity at the device 250 to the remote device(e.g., host server 100 and 300 in the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG.5A) and the remote device determines how to alter its own communicationfrequency with the device 250 for network resource conservation andconservation of device 250 resources.

One embodiment of the local proxy 275 further includes arequest/transaction manager 235, which can detect, identify, intercept,process, manage, data requests initiated on the device 250, for example,by applications 210 and/or 220, and/or directly/indirectly by a userrequest. The request/transaction manager 235 can determine how and whento process a given request or transaction, or a set ofrequests/transactions, based on transaction characteristics.

The request/transaction manager 235 can prioritize requests ortransactions made by applications and/or users at the device 250, forexample by the prioritization engine 241. Importance or priority ofrequests/transactions can be determined by the request/transactionmanager 235 by applying a rule set, for example, according to timesensitivity of the transaction, time sensitivity of the content in thetransaction, time criticality of the transaction, time criticality ofthe data transmitted in the transaction, and/or time criticality orimportance of an application making the request.

In addition, transaction characteristics can also depend on whether thetransaction was a result of user-interaction or other user-initiatedaction on the device (e.g., user interaction with a application (e.g., amobile application)). In general, a time critical transaction caninclude a transaction resulting from a user-initiated data transfer, andcan be prioritized as such. Transaction characteristics can also dependon the amount of data that will be transferred or is anticipated to betransferred as a result of the requested transaction. For example, theconnection manager 265, can adjust the radio mode (e.g., high power orlow power mode via the radio controller 266) based on the amount of datathat will need to be transferred.

In addition, the radio controller 266/connection manager 265 can adjustthe radio power mode (high or low) based on time criticality/sensitivityof the transaction. The radio controller 266 can trigger the use of highpower radio mode when a time-critical transaction (e.g., a transactionresulting from a user-initiated data transfer, an application running inthe foreground, any other event meeting a certain criteria) is initiatedor detected.

In general, the priorities can be set by default, for example, based ondevice platform, device manufacturer, operating system, etc. Prioritiescan alternatively or in additionally be set by the particularapplication; for example, the Facebook application (e.g., a mobileapplication) can set its own priorities for various transactions (e.g.,a status update can be of higher priority than an add friend request ora poke request, a message send request can be of higher priority than amessage delete request, for example), an email client or IM chat clientmay have its own configurations for priority. The prioritization engine241 may include set of rules for assigning priority.

The prioritization engine 241 can also track network providerlimitations or specifications on application or transaction priority indetermining an overall priority status for a request/transaction.Furthermore, priority can in part or in whole be determined by userpreferences, either explicit or implicit. A user, can in general, setpriorities at different tiers, such as, specific priorities forsessions, or types, or applications (e.g., a browsing session, a gamingsession, versus an IM chat session, the user may set a gaming session toalways have higher priority than an IM chat session, which may havehigher priority than web-browsing session). A user can setapplication-specific priorities, (e.g., a user may set Facebook-relatedtransactions to have a higher priority than LinkedIn-relatedtransactions), for specific transaction types (e.g., for all sendmessage requests across all applications to have higher priority thanmessage delete requests, for all calendar-related events to have a highpriority, etc.), and/or for specific folders.

The prioritization engine 241 can track and resolve conflicts inpriorities set by different entities. For example, manual settingsspecified by the user may take precedence over device OS settings,network provider parameters/limitations (e.g., set in default for anetwork service area, geographic locale, set for a specific time of day,or set based on service/fee type) may limit any user-specified settingsand/or application-set priorities. In some instances, a manualsynchronization request received from a user can override some, most, orall priority settings in that the requested synchronization is performedwhen requested, regardless of the individually assigned priority or anoverall priority ranking for the requested action.

Priority can be specified and tracked internally in any known and/orconvenient manner, including but not limited to, a binaryrepresentation, a multi-valued representation, a traded representationand all are considered to be within the scope of the disclosedtechnology.

TABLE I Change Change (initiated on device) Priority (initiated onserver) Priority Send email High Receive email High Delete email LowEdit email Often not possible to sync (Un) read email Low (Low ifpossible) Move message Low New email in deleted items Low Read more HighDownload High Delete an email Low attachment (Un) Read an email Low NewCalendar event High Move messages Low Edit/change Calendar event HighAny calendar change High Any contact change High Add a contact HighWipe/lock device High Edit a contact High Settings change High Searchcontacts High Any folder change High Change a setting High Connectorrestart High (if no changes nothing is Manual send/receive High sent) IMstatus change Medium Social Network Status Updates Medium Auction outbidor change High Severe Weather Alerts High notification Weather UpdatesLow News Updates Low

Table I above shows, for illustration purposes, some examples oftransactions with examples of assigned priorities in a binaryrepresentation scheme. Additional assignments are possible foradditional types of events, requests, transactions, and as previouslydescribed, priority assignments can be made at more or less granularlevels, e.g., at the session level or at the application level, etc.

As shown by way of example in the above table, in general, lowerpriority requests/transactions can include, updating message status asbeing read, unread, deleting of messages, deletion of contacts; higherpriority requests/transactions, can in some instances include, statusupdates, new IM chat message, new email, calendar eventupdate/cancellation/deletion, an event in a mobile gaming session, orother entertainment related events, a purchase confirmation through aweb purchase or online, request to load additional or download content,contact book related events, a transaction to change a device setting,location-aware or location-based events/transactions, or any otherevents/request/transactions initiated by a user or where the user isknown to be, expected to be, or suspected to be waiting for a response,etc.

Inbox pruning events (e.g., email, or any other types of messages), aregenerally considered low priority and absent other impending events,generally will not trigger use of the radio on the device 250.Specifically, pruning events to remove old email or other content can be‘piggy backed’ with other communications if the radio is not otherwiseon, at the time of a scheduled pruning event. For example, if the userhas preferences set to ‘keep messages for 7 days old,’ then instead ofpowering on the device radio to initiate a message delete from thedevice 250 the moment that the message has exceeded 7 days old, themessage is deleted when the radio is powered on next. If the radio isalready on, then pruning may occur as regularly scheduled.

The request/transaction manager 235, can use the priorities for requests(e.g., by the prioritization engine 241) to manage outgoing traffic fromthe device 250 for resource optimization (e.g., to utilize the deviceradio more efficiently for battery conservation). For example,transactions/requests below a certain priority ranking may not triggeruse of the radio on the device 250 if the radio is not already switchedon, as controlled by the connection manager 265. In contrast, the radiocontroller 266 can turn on the radio such a request can be sent when arequest for a transaction is detected to be over a certain prioritylevel.

In one embodiment, priority assignments (such as that determined by thelocal proxy 275 or another device/entity) can be used cause a remotedevice to modify its communication with the frequency with the mobiledevice or wireless device. For example, the remote device can beconfigured to send notifications to the device 250 when data of higherimportance is available to be sent to the mobile device or wirelessdevice.

In one embodiment, transaction priority can be used in conjunction withcharacteristics of user activity in shaping or managing traffic, forexample, by the traffic shaping engine 255. For example, the trafficshaping engine 255 can, in response to detecting that a user is dormantor inactive, wait to send low priority transactions from the device 250,for a period of time. In addition, the traffic shaping engine 255 canallow multiple low priority transactions to accumulate for batchtransferring from the device 250 (e.g., via the batching module 257). Inone embodiment, the priorities can be set, configured, or readjusted bya user. For example, content depicted in Table I in the same or similarform can be accessible in a user interface on the device 250 and forexample, used by the user to adjust or view the priorities.

The batching module 257 can initiate batch transfer based on certaincriteria. For example, batch transfer (e.g., of multiple occurrences ofevents, some of which occurred at different instances in time) may occurafter a certain number of low priority events have been detected, orafter an amount of time elapsed after the first of the low priorityevent was initiated. In addition, the batching module 257 can initiatebatch transfer of the cumulated low priority events when a higherpriority event is initiated or detected at the device 250. Batchtransfer can otherwise be initiated when radio use is triggered foranother reason (e.g., to receive data from a remote device such as hostserver 100 or 300). In one embodiment, an impending pruning event(pruning of an inbox), or any other low priority events, can be executedwhen a batch transfer occurs.

In general, the batching capability can be disabled or enabled at theevent/transaction level, application level, or session level, based onany one or combination of the following: user configuration, devicelimitations/settings, manufacturer specification, network providerparameters/limitations, platform-specific limitations/settings, deviceOS settings, etc. In one embodiment, batch transfer can be initiatedwhen an application/window/file is closed out, exited, or moved into thebackground; users can optionally be prompted before initiating a batchtransfer; users can also manually trigger batch transfers.

In one embodiment, the local proxy 275 locally adjusts radio use on thedevice 250 by caching data in the cache 285. When requests ortransactions from the device 250 can be satisfied by content stored inthe cache 285, the radio controller 266 need not activate the radio tosend the request to a remote entity (e.g., the host server 100, 300, asshown in FIG. 1B and FIG. 5A or a content provider/application serversuch as the server/provider 110 shown in the examples of FIG. 1B andFIG. 1C). As such, the local proxy 275 can use the local cache 285 andthe cache policy manager 245 to locally store data for satisfying datarequests to eliminate or reduce the use of the device radio forconservation of network resources and device battery consumption.

In leveraging the local cache, once the request/transaction manager 225intercepts a data request by an application on the device 250, the localrepository 285 can be queried to determine if there is any locallystored response, and also determine whether the response is valid. Whena valid response is available in the local cache 285, the response canbe provided to the application on the device 250 without the device 250needing to access the cellular network or wireless broadband network.

If a valid response is not available, the local proxy 275 can query aremote proxy (e.g., the server proxy 325 of FIG. 5A) to determinewhether a remotely stored response is valid. If so, the remotely storedresponse (e.g., which may be stored on the server cache 135 or optionalcaching server 199 shown in the example of FIG. 1C) can be provided tothe mobile device, possibly without the mobile device 250 needing toaccess the cellular network, thus relieving consumption of networkresources.

If a valid cache response is not available, or if cache responses areunavailable for the intercepted data request, the local proxy 275, forexample, the caching policy manager 245, can send the data request to aremote proxy (e.g., server proxy 325 of FIG. 5A) which forwards the datarequest to a content source (e.g., application server/content provider110 of FIG. 1B) and a response from the content source can be providedthrough the remote proxy, as will be further described in thedescription associated with the example host server 300 of FIG. 5A. Thecache policy manager 245 can manage or process requests that use avariety of protocols, including but not limited to HTTP, HTTPS, IMAP,POP, SMTP, XMPP, and/or ActiveSync. The caching policy manager 245 canlocally store responses for data requests in the local database 285 ascache entries, for subsequent use in satisfying same or similar datarequests.

The caching policy manager 245 can request that the remote proxy monitorresponses for the data request and the remote proxy can notify thedevice 250 when an unexpected response to the data request is detected.In such an event, the cache policy manager 245 can erase or replace thelocally stored response(s) on the device 250 when notified of theunexpected response (e.g., new data, changed data, additional data,etc.) to the data request. In one embodiment, the caching policy manager245 is able to detect or identify the protocol used for a specificrequest, including but not limited to HTTP, HTTPS, IMAP, POP, SMTP,XMPP, and/or ActiveSync. In one embodiment, application specifichandlers (e.g., via the application protocol module 246 of the cachingpolicy manager 245) on the local proxy 275 allows for optimization ofany protocol that can be port mapped to a handler in the distributedproxy (e.g., port mapped on the proxy server 325 in the example of FIG.5A).

In one embodiment, the local proxy 275 notifies the remote proxy suchthat the remote proxy can monitor responses received for the datarequest from the content source for changed results prior to returningthe result to the device 250, for example, when the data request to thecontent source has yielded same results to be returned to the mobiledevice. In general, the local proxy 275 can simulate application serverresponses for applications on the device 250, using locally cachedcontent. This can prevent utilization of the cellular network fortransactions where new/changed data is not available, thus freeing upnetwork resources and preventing network congestion.

In one embodiment, the local proxy 275 includes an application behaviordetector 236 to track, detect, observe, monitor, applications (e.g.,proxy-aware and/or unaware applications 210 and 220) accessed orinstalled on the device 250. Application behaviors, or patterns indetected behaviors (e.g., via the pattern detector 237) of one or moreapplications accessed on the device 250 can be used by the local proxy275 to optimize traffic in a wireless network needed to satisfy the dataneeds of these applications.

For example, based on detected behavior of multiple applications, thetraffic shaping engine 255 can align content requests made by at leastsome of the applications over the network (wireless network) (e.g., viathe alignment module 256). The alignment module 256 can delay orexpedite some earlier received requests to achieve alignment. Whenrequests are aligned, the traffic shaping engine 255 can utilize theconnection manager to poll over the network to satisfy application datarequests. Content requests for multiple applications can be alignedbased on behavior patterns or rules/settings including, for example,content types requested by the multiple applications (audio, video,text, etc.), device (e.g., mobile or wireless device) parameters, and/ornetwork parameters/traffic conditions, network service providerconstraints/specifications, etc.

In one embodiment, the pattern detector 237 can detect recurrences inapplication requests made by the multiple applications, for example, bytracking patterns in application behavior. A tracked pattern caninclude, detecting that certain applications, as a background process,poll an application server regularly, at certain times of day, oncertain days of the week, periodically in a predictable fashion, with acertain frequency, with a certain frequency in response to a certaintype of event, in response to a certain type user query, frequency thatrequested content is the same, frequency with which a same request ismade, interval between requests, applications making a request, or anycombination of the above, for example.

Such recurrences can be used by traffic shaping engine 255 to offloadpolling of content from a content source (e.g., from an applicationserver/content provider 110 of FIG. 1A) that would result from theapplication requests that would be performed at the mobile device orwireless device 250 to be performed instead, by a proxy server (e.g.,proxy server 125 of FIG. 1C or proxy server 325 of FIG. 5A) remote fromthe device 250. Traffic shaping engine 255 can decide to offload thepolling when the recurrences match a rule. For example, there aremultiple occurrences or requests for the same resource that have exactlythe same content, or returned value, or based on detection of repeatabletime periods between requests and responses such as a resource that isrequested at specific times during the day. The offloading of thepolling can decrease the amount of bandwidth consumption needed by themobile device 250 to establish a wireless (cellular or other wirelessbroadband) connection with the content source for repetitive contentpolls.

As a result of the offloading of the polling, locally cached contentstored in the local cache 285 can be provided to satisfy data requestsat the device 250, when content change is not detected in the polling ofthe content sources. As such, when data has not changed, applicationdata needs can be satisfied without needing to enable radio use oroccupying cellular bandwidth in a wireless network. When data haschanged and/or new data has been received, the remote entity to whichpolling is offloaded, can notify the device 250. The remote entity maybe the host server 300 as shown in the example of FIG. 5A.

In one embodiment, the local proxy 275 can mitigate the need/use ofperiodic keep-alive messages (heartbeat messages) to maintain TCP/IPconnections, which can consume significant amounts of power thus havingdetrimental impacts on mobile device battery life. The connectionmanager 265 in the local proxy (e.g., the heartbeat manager 267) candetect, identify, and intercept any or all heartbeat (keep-alive)messages being sent from applications.

The heartbeat manager 267 can prevent any or all of these heartbeatmessages from being sent over the cellular, or other network, andinstead rely on the server component of the distributed proxy system(e.g., shown in FIG. 1C) to generate and send the heartbeat messages tomaintain a connection with the backend (e.g., applicationserver/provider 110 in the example of FIG. 1A).

The local proxy 275 generally represents any one or a portion of thefunctions described for the individual managers, modules, and/orengines. The local proxy 275 and device 250 can include additional orless components; more or less functions can be included, in whole or inpart, without deviating from the novel art of the disclosure.

FIG. 4B depicts a block diagram illustrating a further example ofcomponents in the cache system shown in the example of FIG. 4A which iscapable of caching and adapting caching strategies for mobileapplication behavior and/or network conditions.

In one embodiment, the caching policy manager 245 includes a metadatagenerator 203, a cache look-up engine 205, a cache appropriatenessdecision engine 246, a poll schedule generator 247, an applicationprotocol module 248, a cache or connect selection engine 249 and/or alocal cache invalidator 244. The cache appropriateness decision engine246 can further include a timing predictor 246 a, a content predictor246 b, a request analyzer 246 c, and/or a response analyzer 246 d, andthe cache or connect selection engine 249 includes a response scheduler249 a. The metadata generator 203 and/or the cache look-up engine 205are coupled to the cache 285 (or local cache) for modification oraddition to cache entries or querying thereof.

The cache look-up engine 205 may further include an ID or URI filter 205a, the local cache invalidator 244 may further include a TTL manager 244a, and the poll schedule generator 247 may further include a scheduleupdate engine 247 a and/or a time adjustment engine 247 b. Oneembodiment of caching policy manager 245 includes an application cachepolicy repository 243. In one embodiment, the application behaviordetector 236 includes a pattern detector 237, a poll interval detector238, an application profile generator 239, and/or a priority engine 241.The poll interval detector 238 may further include a long poll detector238 a having a response/request tracking engine 238 b. The poll intervaldetector 238 may further include a long poll hunting detector 238 c. Theapplication profile generator 239 can further include a response delayinterval tracker 239 a.

The pattern detector 237, application profile generator 239, and thepriority engine 241 were also described in association with thedescription of the pattern detector shown in the example of FIG. 4A. Oneembodiment further includes an application profile repository 242 whichcan be used by the local proxy 275 to store information or metadataregarding application profiles (e.g., behavior, patterns, type of HTTPrequests, etc.)

The cache appropriateness decision engine 246 can detect, assess, ordetermine whether content from a content source (e.g., applicationserver/content provider 110 in the example of FIG. 1B) with which amobile device 250 interacts and has content that may be suitable forcaching. For example, the decision engine 246 can use information abouta request and/or a response received for the request initiated at themobile device 250 to determine cacheability, potential cacheability, ornon-cacheability. In some instances, the decision engine 246 caninitially verify whether a request is directed to a blacklisteddestination or whether the request itself originates from a blacklistedclient or application. If so, additional processing and analysis may notbe performed by the decision engine 246 and the request may be allowedto be sent over the air to the server to satisfy the request. The blacklisted destinations or applications/clients (e.g., mobile applications)can be maintained locally in the local proxy (e.g., in the applicationprofile repository 242) or remotely (e.g., in the proxy server 325 oranother entity).

In one embodiment, the decision engine 246, for example, via the requestanalyzer 246 c, collects information about an application or clientrequest generated at the mobile device 250. The request information caninclude request characteristics information including, for example,request method. For example, the request method can indicate the type ofHTTP request generated by the mobile application or client. In oneembodiment, response to a request can be identified as cacheable orpotentially cacheable if the request method is a GET request or POSTrequest. Other types of requests (e.g., OPTIONS, HEAD, PUT, DELETE,TRACE, or CONNECT) may or may not be cached. In general, HTTP requestswith uncacheable request methods will not be cached.

Request characteristics information can further include informationregarding request size, for example. Responses to requests (e.g., HTTPrequests) with body size exceeding a certain size will not be cached.For example, cacheability can be determined if the information about therequest indicates that a request body size of the request does notexceed a certain size. In some instances, the maximum cacheable requestbody size can be set to 8092 bytes. In other instances, different valuesmay be used, dependent on network capacity or network operator specificsettings, for example.

In some instances, content from a given application server/contentprovider (e.g., the server/content provider 110 of FIG. 1C) isdetermined to be suitable for caching based on a set of criteria, forexample, criteria specifying time criticality of the content that isbeing requested from the content source. In one embodiment, the localproxy (e.g., the local proxy 175 or 275 of FIG. 1C and FIG. 4A) appliesa selection criteria to store the content from the host server which isrequested by an application as cached elements in a local cache on themobile device to satisfy subsequent requests made by the application.

The cache appropriateness decision engine 246, further based on detectedpatterns of requests sent from the mobile device 250 (e.g., by a mobileapplication or other types of clients on the device 250) and/or patternsof received responses, can detect predictability in requests and/orresponses. For example, the request characteristics informationcollected by the decision engine 246, (e.g., the request analyzer 246 c)can further include periodicity information between a request and otherrequests generated by a same client on the mobile device or otherrequests directed to the same host (e.g., with similar or sameidentifier parameters).

Periodicity can be detected, by the decision engine 246 or the requestanalyzer 246 c, when the request and the other requests generated by thesame client occur at a fixed rate or nearly fixed rate, or at a dynamicrate with some identifiable or partially or wholly reproducible changingpattern. If the requests are made with some identifiable pattern (e.g.,regular intervals, intervals having a detectable pattern, or trend(e.g., increasing, decreasing, constant, etc.) the timing predictor 246a can determine that the requests made by a given application on adevice is predictable and identify it to be potentially appropriate forcaching, at least from a timing standpoint.

An identifiable pattern or trend can generally include any applicationor client behavior which may be simulated either locally, for example,on the local proxy 275 on the mobile device 250 or simulated remotely,for example, by the proxy server 325 on the host 300, or a combinationof local and remote simulation to emulate application behavior.

In one embodiment, the decision engine 246, for example, via theresponse analyzer 246 d, can collect information about a response to anapplication or client request generated at the mobile device 250. Theresponse is typically received from a server or the host of theapplication (e.g., mobile application) or client which sent the requestat the mobile device 250. In some instances, the mobile client orapplication can be the mobile version of an application (e.g., socialnetworking, search, travel management, voicemail, contact manager,email) or a web site accessed via a web browser or via a desktop client.

For example, response characteristics information can include anindication of whether transfer encoding or chunked transfer encoding isused in sending the response. In some instances, responses to HTTPrequests with transfer encoding or chunked transfer encoding are notcached, and therefore are also removed from further analysis. Therationale here is that chunked responses are usually large andnon-optimal for caching, since the processing of these transactions maylikely slow down the overall performance. Therefore, in one embodiment,cacheability or potential for cacheability can be determined whentransfer encoding is not used in sending the response.

In addition, the response characteristics information can include anassociated status code of the response which can be identified by theresponse analyzer 246 d. In some instances, HTTP responses withuncacheable status codes are typically not cached. The response analyzer246 d can extract the status code from the response and determinewhether it matches a status code which is cacheable or uncacheable. Somecacheable status codes include by way of example: 200—OK, 301—Redirect,302—Found, 303—See other, 304—Not Modified, 307 Temporary Redirect, or500—Internal server error. Some uncacheable status codes can include,for example, 403—Forbidden or 404—Not found.

In one embodiment, cacheability or potential for cacheability can bedetermined if the information about the response does not indicate anuncacheable status code or indicates a cacheable status code. If theresponse analyzer 246 d detects an uncacheable status code associatedwith a given response, the specific transaction (request/response pair)may be eliminated from further processing and determined to beuncacheable on a temporary basis, a semi-permanent, or a permanentbasis. If the status code indicates cacheability, the transaction (e.g.,request and/or response pair) may be subject to further processing andanalysis to confirm cacheability.

Response characteristics information can also include response sizeinformation. In general, responses can be cached locally at the mobiledevice 250 if the responses do not exceed a certain size. In someinstances, the default maximum cached response size is set to 115 KB. Inother instances, the max cacheable response size may be different and/ordynamically adjusted based on operating conditions, network conditions,network capacity, user preferences, network operator requirements, orother application-specific, user specific, and/or device-specificreasons. In one embodiment, the response analyzer 246 d can identify thesize of the response, and cacheability or potential for cacheability canbe determined if a given threshold or max value is not exceeded by theresponse size.

Furthermore, response characteristics information can include responsebody information for the response to the request and other response toother requests generated by a same client on the mobile device, ordirected to a same content host or application server. The response bodyinformation for the response and the other responses can be compared,for example, by the response analyzer 246 d, to prevent the caching ofdynamic content (or responses with content that changes frequently andcannot be efficiently served with cache entries, such as financial data,stock quotes, news feeds, real-time sporting event activities, etc.),such as content that would no longer be relevant or up-to-date if servedfrom cached entries.

The cache appropriateness decision engine 246 (e.g., the contentpredictor 246 b) can definitively identify repeatability or identifyindications of repeatability, potential repeatability, or predictabilityin responses received from a content source (e.g., the contenthost/application server 110 shown in the example of FIG. 1C).Repeatability can be detected by, for example, tracking at least tworesponses received from the content source and determines if the tworesponses are the same. For example, cacheability can be determined, bythe response analyzer 246 d, if the response body information for theresponse and the other responses sent by the same mobile client ordirected to the same host/server are same or substantially the same. Thetwo responses may or may not be responses sent in response toconsecutive requests. In one embodiment, hash values of the responsesreceived for requests from a given application are used to determinerepeatability of content (with or without heuristics) for theapplication in general and/or for the specific request. Additional sameresponses may be required for some applications or under certaincircumstances.

Repeatability in received content need not be 100% ascertained. Forexample, responses can be determined to be repeatable if a certainnumber or a certain percentage of responses are the same, or similar.The certain number or certain percentage of same/similar responses canbe tracked over a select period of time, set by default or set based onthe application generating the requests (e.g., whether the applicationis highly dynamic with constant updates or less dynamic with infrequentupdates). Any indicated predictability or repeatability, or possiblerepeatability, can be utilized by the distributed system in cachingcontent to be provided to a requesting application or client on themobile device 250.

In one embodiment, for a long poll type request, the local proxy 175 canbegin to cache responses on a third request when the response delaytimes for the first two responses are the same, substantially the same,or detected to be increasing in intervals. In general, the receivedresponses for the first two responses should be the same, and uponverifying that the third response received for the third request is thesame (e.g., if R0=R1=R2), the third response can be locally cached onthe mobile device. Less or more same responses may be required to begincaching, depending on the type of application, type of data, type ofcontent, user preferences, or carrier/network operator specifications.

Increasing response delays with same responses for long polls canindicate a hunting period (e.g., a period in which theapplication/client on the mobile device is seeking the longest timebetween a request and response that a given network will allow), asdetected by the long poll hunting detector 238 c of the applicationbehavior detector 236.

An example can be described below using T0, T1, T2, where T indicatesthe delay time between when a request is sent and when a response (e.g.,the response header) is detected/received for consecutive requests:

T0=Response0(t)−Request0(t)=180 s.(+/−tolerance)

T1=Response1(t)−Request1(t)=240 s.(+/−tolerance)

T2=Response2(t)−Request2(t)=500 s.(+/−tolerance)

In the example timing sequence shown above, T0<T1<T2, this may indicatea hunting pattern for a long poll when network timeout has not yet beenreached or exceeded. Furthermore, if the responses R0, R1, and R2received for the three requests are the same, R2 can be cached. In thisexample, R2 is cached during the long poll hunting period withoutwaiting for the long poll to settle, thus expediting response caching(e.g., this is optional accelerated caching behavior which can beimplemented for all or select applications).

As such, the local proxy 275 can specify information that can beextracted from the timing sequence shown above (e.g., polling schedule,polling interval, polling type) to the proxy server and begin cachingand to request the proxy server to begin polling and monitoring thesource (e.g., using any of T0, T1, T2 as polling intervals but typicallyT2, or the largest detected interval without timing out, and for whichresponses from the source is received will be sent to the proxy server325 of FIG. 5A for use in polling the content source (e.g., applicationserver/service provider 310)).

However, if the time intervals are detected to be getting shorter, theapplication (e.g., mobile application)/client may still be hunting for atime interval for which a response can be reliably received from thecontent source (e.g., application/server server/provider 110 or 310),and as such caching typically should not begin until therequest/response intervals indicate the same time interval or anincreasing time interval, for example, for a long poll type request.

An example of handling a detected decreasing delay can be describedbelow using T0, T1, T2, T3, and T4 where T indicates the delay timebetween when a request is sent and when a response (e.g., the responseheader) is detected/received for consecutive requests:

T0=Response0(t)−Request0(t)=160 s.(+/−tolerance)

T1=Response1(t)−Request1(t)=240 s.(+/−tolerance)

T2=Response2(t)−Request2(t)=500 s.(+/−tolerance)

T3=Time out at 700 s.(+/−tolerance)

T4=Response4(t)−Request4(t)=600(+/−tolerance)

If a pattern for response delays T1<T2<T3>T4 is detected, as shown inthe above timing sequence (e.g., detected by the long poll huntingdetector 238 c of the application behavior detector 236), it can bedetermined that T3 likely exceeded the network time out during a longpoll hunting period. In Request 3, a response likely was not receivedsince the connection was terminated by the network, application, server,or other reason before a response was sent or available. On Request 4(after T4), if a response (e.g., Response 4) is detected or received,the local proxy 275 can then use the response for caching (if thecontent repeatability condition is met). The local proxy can also use T4as the poll interval in the polling schedule set for the proxy server tomonitor/poll the content source.

Note that the above description shows that caching can begin while longpolls are in hunting mode in the event of detecting increasing responsedelays, as long as responses are received and not timed out for a givenrequest. This can be referred to as the optional accelerated cachingduring long poll hunting. Caching can also begin after the hunting mode(e.g., after the poll requests have settled to a constant or nearconstant delay value) has completed. Note that hunting may or may notoccur for long polls and when hunting occurs; the proxy 275 cangenerally detect this and determine whether to begin to cache during thehunting period (increasing intervals with same responses) or wait untilthe hunt settles to a stable value.

In one embodiment, the timing predictor 246 a of the cacheappropriateness decision engine 246 can track timing of responsesreceived from outgoing requests from an application (e.g., mobileapplication) or client to detect any identifiable patterns which can bepartially wholly reproducible, such that locally cached responses can beprovided to the requesting client on the mobile device 250 in a mannerthat simulates content source (e.g., application server/content provider110 or 310) behavior. For example, the manner in which (e.g., from atiming standpoint) responses or content would be delivered to therequesting application/client on the device 250. This ensurespreservation of user experience when responses to application or mobileclient requests are served from a local and/or remote cache instead ofbeing retrieved/received directly from the content source (e.g.,application, content provider 110 or 310).

In one embodiment, the decision engine 246 or the timing predictor 246 adetermines the timing characteristics a given application (e.g., mobileapplication) or client from, for example, the request/response trackingengine 238 b and/or the application profile generator 239 (e.g., theresponse delay interval tracker 239 a). Using the timingcharacteristics, the timing predictor 246 a determines whether thecontent received in response to the requests are suitable or arepotentially suitable for caching. For example, poll request intervalsbetween two consecutive requests from a given application can be used todetermine whether request intervals are repeatable (e.g., constant, nearconstant, increasing with a pattern, decreasing with a pattern, etc.)and can be predicted and thus reproduced at least some of the timeseither exactly or approximated within a tolerance level.

In some instances, the timing characteristics of a given request typefor a specific application, for multiple requests of an application, orfor multiple applications can be stored in the application profilerepository 242. The application profile repository 242 can generallystore any type of information or metadata regarding applicationrequest/response characteristics including timing patterns, timingrepeatability, content repeatability, etc.

The application profile repository 242 can also store metadataindicating the type of request used by a given application (e.g., longpolls, long-held HTTP requests, HTTP streaming, push, COMET push, etc.)Application profiles indicating request type by applications can be usedwhen subsequent same/similar requests are detected, or when requests aredetected from an application which has already been categorized. In thismanner, timing characteristics for the given request type or forrequests of a specific application which has been tracked and/oranalyzed, need not be reanalyzed.

Application profiles can be associated with a time-to-live (e.g., or adefault expiration time). The use of an expiration time for applicationprofiles, or for various aspects of an application or request's profilecan be used on a case by case basis. The time-to-live or actualexpiration time of application profile entries can be set to a defaultvalue or determined individually, or a combination thereof. Applicationprofiles can also be specific to wireless networks, physical networks,network operators, or specific carriers.

One embodiment includes an application blacklist manager 201. Theapplication blacklist manager 201 can be coupled to the applicationcache policy repository 243 and can be partially or wholly internal tolocal proxy or the caching policy manager 245. Similarly, the blacklistmanager 201 can be partially or wholly internal to local proxy or theapplication behavior detector 236. The blacklist manager 201 canaggregate, track, update, manage, adjust, or dynamically monitor a listof destinations of servers/host that are ‘blacklisted,’ or identified asnot cached, on a permanent or temporary basis. The blacklist ofdestinations, when identified in a request, can potentially be used toallow the request to be sent over the (cellular) network for servicing.Additional processing on the request may not be performed since it isdetected to be directed to a blacklisted destination.

Blacklisted destinations can be identified in the application cachepolicy repository 243 by address identifiers including specific URIs orpatterns of identifiers including URI patterns. In general, blacklisteddestinations can be set by or modified for any reason by any partyincluding the user (owner/user of mobile device 250), operatingsystem/mobile platform of device 250, the destination itself, networkoperator (of cellular network), Internet service provider, other thirdparties, or according to a list of destinations for applications knownto be uncacheable/not suited for caching. Some entries in theblacklisted destinations may include destinations aggregated based onthe analysis or processing performed by the local proxy (e.g., cacheappropriateness decision engine 246).

For example, applications or mobile clients on the mobile device forwhich responses have been identified as non-suitable for caching can beadded to the blacklist. Their corresponding hosts/servers may be addedin addition to or in lieu of an identification of the requestingapplication/client on the mobile device 250. Some or all of such clientsidentified by the proxy system can be added to the blacklist. Forexample, for all application clients or applications that aretemporarily identified as not being suitable for caching, only thosewith certain detected characteristics (based on timing, periodicity,frequency of response content change, content predictability, size,etc.) can be blacklisted.

The blacklisted entries may include a list of requesting applications orrequesting clients on the mobile device (rather than destinations) suchthat, when a request is detected from a given application or givenclient, it may be sent through the network for a response, sinceresponses for blacklisted clients/applications are in most circumstancesnot cached.

A given application profile may also be treated or processed differently(e.g., different behavior of the local proxy 275 and the remote proxy325) depending on the mobile account associated with a mobile devicefrom which the application is being accessed. For example, a higherpaying account, or a premier account may allow more frequent access ofthe wireless network or higher bandwidth allowance thus affecting thecaching policies implemented between the local proxy 275 and proxyserver 325 with an emphasis on better performance compared toconservation of resources. A given application profile may also betreated or processed differently under different wireless networkconditions (e.g., based on congestion or network outage, etc.).

Note that cache appropriateness can be determined, tracked, and managedfor multiple clients or applications on the mobile device 250. Cacheappropriateness can also be determined for different requests or requesttypes initiated by a given client or application on the mobile device250. The caching policy manager 245, along with the timing predictor 246a and/or the content predictor 246 b which heuristically determines orestimates predictability or potential predictability, can track, manageand store cacheability information for various application or variousrequests for a given application. Cacheability information may alsoinclude conditions (e.g., an application can be cached at certain timesof the day, or certain days of the week, or certain requests of a givenapplication can be cached, or all requests with a given destinationaddress can be cached) under which caching is appropriate which can bedetermined and/or tracked by the cache appropriateness decision engine246 and stored and/or updated when appropriate in the application cachepolicy repository 243 coupled to the cache appropriateness decisionengine 246.

The information in the application cache policy repository 243 regardingcacheability of requests, applications, and/or associated conditions canbe used later on when same requests are detected. In this manner, thedecision engine 246 and/or the timing and content predictors 246 a/bneed not track and reanalyze request/response timing and contentcharacteristics to make an assessment regarding cacheability. Inaddition, the cacheability information can in some instances be sharedwith local proxies of other mobile devices by way of directcommunication or via the host server (e.g., proxy server 325 of hostserver 300).

For example, cacheability information detected by the local proxy 275 onvarious mobile devices can be sent to a remote host server or a proxyserver 325 on the host server (e.g., host server 300 or proxy server 325shown in the example of FIG. 5A, host 100 and proxy server 125 in theexample of FIG. 1B-1C). The remote host or proxy server can thendistribute the information regarding application-specific,request-specific cacheability information and/or any associatedconditions to various mobile devices or their local proxies in awireless network or across multiple wireless networks (same serviceprovider or multiple wireless service providers) for their use.

In general, the selection criteria for caching can further include, byway of example but not limitation, the state of the mobile deviceindicating whether the mobile device is active or inactive, networkconditions, and/or radio coverage statistics. The cache appropriatenessdecision engine 246 can in any one or any combination of the criteria,and in any order, identifying sources for which caching may be suitable.

Once application servers/content providers having identified or detectedcontent that is potentially suitable for local caching on the mobiledevice 250, the cache policy manager 245 can proceed to cache theassociated content received from the identified sources by storingcontent received from the content source as cache elements in a localcache (e.g., local cache 185 or 285 shown in the examples of FIG. 1B-1Cand FIG. 4A, respectively) on the mobile device 250.

The response can be stored in the cache 285 (e.g., also referred as thelocal cache) as a cache entry. In addition to the response to a request,the cached entry can include response metadata having additionalinformation regarding caching of the response. The metadata may begenerated by the metadata generator 203 and can include, for example,timing data such as the access time of the cache entry or creation timeof the cache entry. Metadata can include additional information, such asany information suited for use in determining whether the responsestored as the cached entry is used to satisfy the subsequent response.For example, metadata information can further include, request timinghistory (e.g., including request time, request start time, request endtime), hash of the request and/or response, time intervals or changes intime intervals, etc.

The cache entry is typically stored in the cache 285 in association witha time-to-live (TTL), which for example may be assigned or determined bythe TTL manager 244 a of the cache invalidator 244. The time-to-live ofa cache entry is the amount of time the entry is persisted in the cache285 regardless of whether the response is still valid or relevant for agiven request or client/application on the mobile device 250. Forexample, if the time-to-live of a given cache entry is set to 12 hours,the cache entry is purged, removed, or otherwise indicated as havingexceeded the time-to-live, even if the response body contained in thecache entry is still current and applicable for the associated request.

A default time-to-live can be automatically used for all entries unlessotherwise specified (e.g., by the TTL manager 244 a), or each cacheentry can be created with its individual TTL (e.g., determined by theTTL manager 244 a based on various dynamic or static criteria). Notethat each entry can have a single time-to-live associated with both theresponse data and any associated metadata. In some instances, theassociated metadata may have a different time-to-live (e.g., a longertime-to-live) than the response data.

The content source having content for caching can, in addition or inalternate, be identified to a proxy server (e.g., proxy server 125 or325 shown in the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG. 5A, respectively)remote from and in wireless communication with the mobile device 250such that the proxy server can monitor the content source (e.g.,application server/content provider 110) for new or changed data.Similarly, the local proxy (e.g., the local proxy 175 or 275 of FIG.1B-1C and FIG. 4A, respectively) can identify to the proxy server thatcontent received from a specific application server/content provider isbeing stored as cached elements in the local cache 285.

Once content has been locally cached, the cache policy manager 245, uponreceiving future polling requests to contact the applicationserver/content host (e.g., 110 or 310), can retrieve the cached elementsfrom the local cache to respond to the polling request made at themobile device 250 such that a radio of the mobile device is notactivated to service the polling request. For example, the cache look-upengine 205 can query the cache 285 to identify the response to be servedto a response. The response can be served from the cache in response toidentifying a matching cache entry and also using any metadata storedwith the response in the cache entry. The cache entries can be queriedby the cache look-up engine using a URI of the request or another typeof identifier (e.g., via the ID or URI filter 205 a). The cache-lookupengine 205 can further use the metadata (e.g., extract any timinginformation or other relevant information) stored with the matchingcache entry to determine whether response is still suited for use inbeing served to a current request.

Note that the cache-look-up can be performed by the engine 205 using oneor more of various multiple strategies. In one embodiment, multiplecook-up strategies can be executed sequentially on each entry store dinthe cache 285, until at least one strategy identifies a matching cacheentry. The strategy employed to performing cache look-up can include astrict matching criteria or a matching criteria which allows fornon-matching parameters.

For example, the look-up engine 205 can perform a strict matchingstrategy which searches for an exact match between an identifier (e.g.,a URI for a host or resource) referenced in a present request for whichthe proxy is attempting to identify a cache entry and an identifierstored with the cache entries. In the case where identifiers includeURIs or URLs, the matching algorithm for strict matching will search fora cache entry where all the parameters in the URLs match. For example:

Example 1

1. Cache contains entry for http://test.com/products/

2. Request is being made to URI http://test.com/products/

Strict strategy will find a match, since both URIs are same.

Example 2

1. Cache contains entry for http://test.com/products/?query=all

2. Request is being made to URI http://test.com/products/?query=sub

Under the strict strategy outlined above, a match will not be foundsince the URIs differ in the query parameter.

In another example strategy, the look-up engine 205 looks for a cacheentry with an identifier that partially matches the identifierreferences in a present request for which the proxy is attempting toidentify a matching cache entry. For example, the look-up engine 205 maylook for a cache entry with an identifier which differs from the requestidentifier by a query parameter value. In utilizing this strategy, thelook-up engine 205 can collect information collected for multipleprevious requests (e.g., a list of arbitrary parameters in anidentifier) to be later checked with the detected arbitrary parameter inthe current request. For example, in the case where cache entries arestored with URI or URL identifiers, the look-up engine searches for acache entry with a URI differing by a query parameter. If found, theengine 205 can examine the cache entry for information collected duringprevious requests (e.g. a list of arbitrary parameters) and checkedwhether the arbitrary parameter detected in or extracted from thecurrent URI/URL belongs to the arbitrary parameters list.

Example 1

1. Cache contains entry for http://test.com/products/?query=a11, wherequery is marked as arbitrary.

2. Request is being made to URI http://text.com/products/?query=sub

Match will be found, since query parameter is marked as arbitrary.

Example 2

1. Cache contains entry for http://test.com/products/?query=a11, wherequery is marked as arbitrary.

2. Request is being made to URIhttp://test.com/products/?query=sub&sort=asc

Match will not be found, since current request contains sort parameterwhich is not marked as arbitrary in the cache entry.

Additional strategies for detecting cache hit may be employed. Thesestrategies can be implemented singly or in any combination thereof. Acache-hit can be determined when any one of these strategies determinesa match. A cache miss may be indicated when the look-up engine 205determines that the requested data cannot be served from the cache 285,for any reason. For example, a cache miss may be determined when nocache entries are identified for any or all utilized look-up strategies.

Cache miss may also be determined when a matching cache entry exists butdetermined to be invalid or irrelevant for the current request. Forexample, the look-up engine 205 may further analyze metadata (e.g.,which may include timing data of the cache entry) associated with thematching cache entry to determine whether it is still suitable for usein responding to the present request.

When the look-up engine 205 has identified a cache hit (e.g., an eventindicating that the requested data can be served from the cache), thestored response in the matching cache entry can be served from the cacheto satisfy the request of an application/client.

By servicing requests using cache entries stored in cache 285, networkbandwidth and other resources need not be used to request/receive pollresponses which may have not changed from a response that has alreadybeen received at the mobile device 250. Such servicing and fulfillingapplication (e.g., mobile application) requests locally via cacheentries in the local cache 285 allows for more efficient resource andmobile network traffic utilization and management since the request neednot be sent over the wireless network further consuming bandwidth. Ingeneral, the cache 285 can be persisted between power on/off of themobile device 250, and persisted across application/client refreshes andrestarts.

For example, the local proxy 275, upon receipt of an outgoing requestfrom its mobile device 250 or from an application or other type ofclient on the mobile device 250, can intercept the request and determinewhether a cached response is available in the local cache 285 of themobile device 250. If so, the outgoing request is responded to by thelocal proxy 275 using the cached response on the cache of the mobiledevice. As such, the outgoing request can be filled or satisfied withouta need to send the outgoing request over the wireless network, thusconserving network resources and battery consumption.

In one embodiment, the responding to the requesting application/clienton the device 250 is timed to correspond to a manner in which thecontent server would have responded to the outgoing request over apersistent connection (e.g., over the persistent connection, orlong-held HTTP connection, long poll type connection, that would havebeen established absent interception by the local proxy). The timing ofthe response can be emulated or simulated by the local proxy 275 topreserve application behavior such that end user experience is notaffected, or minimally affected by serving stored content from the localcache 285 rather than fresh content received from the intended contentsource (e.g., content host/application server 110 of FIG. 1B-FIG. 1C).The timing can be replicated exactly or estimated within a toleranceparameter, which may go unnoticed by the user or treated similarly bythe application so as to not cause operation issues.

For example, the outgoing request can be a request for a persistentconnection intended for the content server (e.g., applicationserver/content provider of examples of FIG. 1B-1C). In a persistentconnection (e.g., long poll, COMET-style push or any other pushsimulation in asynchronous HTTP requests, long-held HTTP request, HTTPstreaming, or others) with a content source (server), the connection isheld for some time after a request is sent. The connection can typicallybe persisted between the mobile device and the server until content isavailable at the server to be sent to the mobile device. Thus, theretypically can be some delay in time between when a long poll request issent and when a response is received from the content source. If aresponse is not provided by the content source for a certain amount oftime, the connection may also terminate due to network reasons (e.g.,socket closure) if a response is not sent.

Thus, to emulate a response from a content server sent over a persistentconnection (e.g., a long poll style connection), the manner of responseof the content server can be simulated by allowing a time interval toelapse before responding to the outgoing request with the cachedresponse. The length of the time interval can be determined on a requestby request basis or on an application by application (client by clientbasis), for example.

In one embodiment, the time interval is determined based on requestcharacteristics (e.g., timing characteristics) of an application on themobile device from which the outgoing request originates. For example,poll request intervals (e.g., which can be tracked, detected, anddetermined by the long poll detector 238 a of the poll interval detector238) can be used to determine the time interval to wait beforeresponding to a request with a local cache entry and managed by theresponse scheduler 249 a.

One embodiment of the cache policy manager 245 includes a poll schedulegenerator 247 which can generate a polling schedule for one or moreapplications on the mobile device 250. The polling schedule can specifya polling interval that can be employed by an entity which is physicallydistinct and/or separate from the mobile device 250 in monitoring thecontent source for one or more applications (such that cached responsescan be verified periodically by polling a host server (host server 110or 310) to which the request is directed) on behalf of the mobiledevice. One example of such an external entity which can monitor thecontent at the source for the mobile device 250 is a proxy server (e.g.,proxy server 125 or 325 shown in the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG.5A-C).

The polling schedule (e.g., including a rate/frequency of polling) canbe determined, for example, based on the interval between the pollingrequests directed to the content source from the mobile device. Thepolling schedule or rate of polling may be determined at the mobiledevice 250 (by the local proxy). In one embodiment, the poll intervaldetector 238 of the application behavior detector 236 can monitorpolling requests directed to a content source from the mobile device 250in order to determine an interval between the polling requests made fromany or all application (e.g., mobile application).

For example, the poll interval detector 238 can track requests andresponses for applications or clients on the device 250. In oneembodiment, consecutive requests are tracked prior to detection of anoutgoing request initiated from the application (e.g., mobileapplication) on the mobile device 250 by the same mobile client orapplication (e.g., mobile application). The polling rate can bedetermined using request information collected for the request for whichthe response is cached. In one embodiment, the rate is determined fromaverages of time intervals between previous requests generated by thesame client which generated the request. For example, a first intervalmay be computed between the current request and a previous request, anda second interval can be computed between the two previous requests. Thepolling rate can be set from the average of the first interval and thesecond interval and sent to the proxy server in setting up the cachingstrategy.

Alternate intervals may be computed in generating an average; forexample, multiple previous requests in addition to two previous requestsmay be used, and more than two intervals may be used in computing anaverage. In general, in computing intervals, a given request need nothave resulted in a response to be received from the host server/contentsource in order to use it for interval computation. In other words, thetiming characteristics of a given request may be used in intervalcomputation, as long as the request has been detected, even if therequest failed in sending, or if the response retrieval failed.

One embodiment of the poll schedule generator 247 includes a scheduleupdate engine 247 a and/or a time adjustment engine 247 b. The scheduleupdate engine 247 a can determine a need to update a rate or pollinginterval with which a given application server/content host from apreviously set value, based on a detected interval change in the actualrequests generated from a client or application (e.g., mobileapplication) on the mobile device 250.

For example, a request for which a monitoring rate was determined maynow be sent from the application (e.g., mobile application) or client ata different request interval. The scheduled update engine 247 a candetermine the updated polling interval of the actual requests andgenerate a new rate, different from the previously set rate to poll thehost at on behalf of the mobile device 250. The updated polling rate canbe communicated to the remote proxy (proxy server 325) over the cellularnetwork for the remote proxy to monitor the given host. In someinstances, the updated polling rate may be determined at the remoteproxy or remote entity which monitors the host.

In one embodiment, the time adjustment engine 247 b can further optimizethe poll schedule generated to monitor the application server/contentsource (110 or 310). For example, the time adjustment engine 247 b canoptionally specify a time to start polling to the proxy server. Forexample, in addition to setting the polling interval at which the proxyserver is to monitor the application, server/content host can alsospecify the time at which an actual request was generated at the mobileclient/application.

However, in some cases, due to inherent transmission delay or addednetwork delays or other types of latencies, the remote proxy serverreceives the poll setup from the local proxy with some delay (e.g., afew minutes, or a few seconds). This has the effect of detectingresponse change at the source after a request is generated by the mobileclient/application causing the invalidate of the cached response tooccur after it has once again been served to the application after theresponse is no longer current or valid.

To resolve this non-optimal result of serving the out-dated content onceagain before invalidating it, the time adjustment engine 247 b canspecify the time (t0) at which polling should begin in addition to therate, where the specified initial time t0 can be specified to the proxyserver 325 as a time that is less than the actual time when the requestwas generated by the mobile app/client. This way, the server polls theresource slightly before the generation of an actual request by themobile client such that any content change can be detected prior to anactual application request. This prevents invalid or irrelevantout-dated content/response from being served once again before freshcontent is served.

In one embodiment, an outgoing request from a mobile device 250 isdetected to be for a persistent connection (e.g., a long poll, COMETstyle push, and long-held (HTTP) request) based on timingcharacteristics of prior requests from the same application or client onthe mobile device 250. For example, requests and/or correspondingresponses can be tracked by the request/response tracking engine 238 bof the long poll detector 238 a of the poll interval detector 238.

The timing characteristics of the consecutive requests can be determinedto set up a polling schedule for the application or client. The pollingschedule can be used to monitor the content source (contentsource/application server) for content changes such that cached contentstored on the local cache in the mobile device 250 can be appropriatelymanaged (e.g., updated or discarded). In one embodiment, the timingcharacteristics can include, for example, a response delay time (‘D’)and/or an idle time (‘IT’).

In one embodiment, the response/request tracking engine 238 b can trackrequests and responses to determine, compute, and/or estimate, thetiming diagrams for applicant or client requests.

For example, the response/request tracking engine 238 b detects a firstrequest (Request 0) initiated by a client on the mobile device and asecond request (Request 1) initiated by the client on the mobile deviceafter a response is received at the mobile device responsive to thefirst request. The second request is one that is subsequent to the firstrequest.

In one embodiment, the response/request tracking engine 238 b can trackrequests and responses to determine, compute, and/or estimate the timingdiagrams for applicant or client requests. The response/request trackingengine 238 b can detect a first request initiated by a client on themobile device and a second request initiated by the client on the mobiledevice after a response is received at the mobile device responsive tothe first request. The second request is one that is subsequent to thefirst request.

The response/request tracking engine 238 b further determines relativetimings between the first, second requests, and the response received inresponse to the first request. In general, the relative timings can beused by the long poll detector 238 a to determine whether requestsgenerated by the application are long poll requests.

Note that in general, the first and second requests that are used by theresponse/request tracking engine 238 b in computing the relative timingsare selected for use after a long poll hunting period has settled or inthe event when long poll hunting does not occur. Timing characteristicsthat are typical of a long poll hunting period can be, for example,detected by the long poll hunting detector 238 c. In other words, therequests tracked by the response/request tracking engine 238 b and usedfor determining whether a given request is a long poll occurs after thelong poll has settled.

In one embodiment, the long poll hunting detector 238 c can identify ordetect hunting mode, by identifying increasing request intervals (e.g.,increasing delays). The long poll hunting detector 238 a can also detecthunting mode by detecting increasing request intervals, followed by arequest with no response (e.g., connection timed out), or by detectingincreasing request intervals followed by a decrease in the interval. Inaddition, the long poll hunting detector 238 c can apply a filter valueor a threshold value to request-response time delay value (e.g., anabsolute value) above which the detected delay can be considered to be along poll request-response delay. The filter value can be any suitablevalue characteristic of long polls and/or network conditions (e.g., 2 s,5 s, 10 s, 15 s, 20 s., etc.) and can be used as a filter or thresholdvalue.

The response delay time (‘D’) refers to the start time to receive aresponse after a request has been sent and the idle refers to time tosend a subsequent request after the response has been received. In oneembodiment, the outgoing request is detected to be for a persistentconnection based on a comparison (e.g., performed by the tracking engine238 b) of the response delay time relative (‘D’) or average of (‘D’)(e.g., any average over any period of time) to the idle time (‘IT’), forexample, by the long poll detector 238 a. The number of averages usedcan be fixed, dynamically adjusted, or changed over a longer period oftime. For example, the requests initiated by the client are determinedto be long poll requests if the response delay time interval is greaterthan the idle time interval (D>IT or D>>IT). In one embodiment, thetracking engine 238 b of the long poll detector computes, determines, orestimates the response delay time interval as the amount of time elapsedbetween time of the first request and initial detection or full receiptof the response.

In one embodiment, a request is detected to be for a persistentconnection when the idle time (‘IT’) is short since persistentconnections, established in response to long poll requests or long pollHTTP requests for example, can also be characterized in detectingimmediate or near-immediate issuance of a subsequent request afterreceipt of a response to a previous request (e.g., IT˜0). As such, theidle time (‘IT’) can also be used to detect such immediate ornear-immediate re-request to identify long poll requests. The absoluteor relative timings determined by the tracking engine 238 b are used todetermine whether the second request is immediately or near-immediatelyre-requested after the response to the first request is received. Forexample, a request may be categorized as a long poll request ifD+RT+IT˜D+RT since IT is small for this to hold true. IT may bedetermined to be small if it is less than a threshold value. Note thatthe threshold value could be fixed or calculated over a limited timeperiod (a session, a day, a month, etc.), or calculated over a longertime period (e.g., several months or the life of the analysis). Forexample, for every request, the average IT can be determined, and thethreshold can be determined using this average IT (e.g., the average ITless a certain percentage may be used as the threshold). This can allowthe threshold to automatically adapt over time to network conditions andchanges in server capability, resource availability or server response.A fixed threshold can take upon any value including by way of examplebut not limitation (e.g., 1 s. 2 s. 3 s. . . . etc.).

In one embodiment, the long poll detector 238 a can compare the relativetimings (e.g., determined by the tracker engine 238 b) torequest-response timing characteristics for other applications todetermine whether the requests of the application are long pollrequests. For example, the requests initiated by a client or applicationcan be determined to be long poll requests if the response delayinterval time (‘D’) or the average response delay interval time (e.g.,averaged over x number of requests or any number of delay interval timesaveraged over x amount of time) is greater than a threshold value.

The threshold value can be determined using response delay intervaltimes for requests generated by other clients, for example by therequest/response tracking engine 238 b and/or by the application profilegenerator 239 (e.g., the response delay interval tracker 239 a). Theother clients may reside on the same mobile device and the thresholdvalue is determined locally by components on the mobile device. Thethreshold value can be determined for all requests over all resourcesserver over all networks, for example. The threshold value can be set toa specific constant value (e.g., 30 seconds, for example) to be used forall requests, or any request which does not have an applicable thresholdvalue (e.g., long poll is detected if D>30 seconds).

In some instances, the other clients reside on different mobile devicesand the threshold can be determined by a proxy server (e.g., proxyserver 325 of the host 300 shown in the example of FIG. 5A-B) which isexternal to the mobile device and able to communicate over a wirelessnetwork with the multiple different mobile devices, as will be furtherdescribed with reference to FIG. 5B.

In one embodiment, the cache policy manager 245 sends the pollingschedule to the proxy server (e.g., proxy server 125 or 325 shown in theexamples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG. 5A) and can be used by the proxy serverin monitoring the content source, for example, for changed or newcontent (updated response different from the cached response associatedwith a request or application). A polling schedule sent to the proxy caninclude multiple timing parameters including but not limited to interval(time from request 1 to request 2) or a time out interval (time to waitfor response, used in long polls, for example). Referring to the timingdiagram of a request/response timing sequence timing intervals ‘RI’,‘D’, ‘RT’, and/or ‘IT’, or some statistical manipulation of the abovevalues (e.g., average, standard deviation, etc.) may all or in part besent to the proxy server.

For example, in the case when the local proxy 275 detects a long poll,the various timing intervals in a request/response timing sequence(e.g., ‘D’, ‘RT’, and/or ‘IT’) can be sent to the proxy server 325 foruse in polling the content source (e.g., application server/content host110). The local proxy 275 can also identify to the proxy server 325 thata given application or request to be monitored is a long poll request(e.g., instructing the proxy server to set a ‘long poll flag’, forexample). In addition, the proxy server uses the various timingintervals to determine when to send keep-alive indications on behalf ofmobile devices.

The local cache invalidator 244 of the caching policy manager 245 caninvalidate cache elements in the local cache (e.g., cache 185 or 285)when new or changed data (e.g., updated response) is detected from theapplication server/content source for a given request. The cachedresponse can be determined to be invalid for the outgoing request basedon a notification received from the proxy server (e.g., proxy 325 or thehost server 300). The source which provides responses to requests of themobile client can be monitored to determine relevancy of the cachedresponse stored in the cache of the mobile device 250 for the request.For example, the cache invalidator 244 can further remove/delete thecached response from the cache of the mobile device when the cachedresponse is no longer valid for a given request or a given application.

In one embodiment, the cached response is removed from the cache afterit is provided once again to an application which generated the outgoingrequest after determining that the cached response is no longer valid.The cached response can be provided again without waiting for the timeinterval or provided again after waiting for a time interval (e.g., thetime interval determined to be specific to emulate the response delay ina long poll). In one embodiment, the time interval is the response delay‘D’ or an average value of the response delay ‘D’ over two or morevalues.

The new or changed data can be, for example, detected by the proxyserver (e.g., proxy server 125 or 325 shown in the examples of FIG.1B-1C and FIG. 5A). When a cache entry for a given request/poll has beeninvalidated, the use of the radio on the mobile device 250 can beenabled (e.g., by the local proxy 275 or the cache policy manager 245)to satisfy the subsequent polling requests.

One embodiment of the cache policy manager 245 includes a cache orconnect selection engine 249 which can decide whether to use a locallycached entry to satisfy a poll/content request generated at the mobiledevice 250 by an application or widget. For example, the local proxy 275or the cache policy manger 245 can intercept a polling request, made byan application (e.g., mobile application) on the mobile device, tocontact the application server/content provider. The selection engine249 can determine whether the content received for the interceptedrequest has been locally stored as cache elements for deciding whetherthe radio of the mobile device needs to be activated to satisfy therequest made by the application (e.g., mobile application) and alsodetermine whether the cached response is still valid for the outgoingrequest prior to responding to the outgoing request using the cachedresponse.

In one embodiment, the local proxy 275, in response to determining thatrelevant cached content exists and is still valid, can retrieve thecached elements from the local cache to provide a response to theapplication (e.g., mobile application) which made the polling requestsuch that a radio of the mobile device is not activated to provide theresponse to the application (e.g., mobile application). In general, thelocal proxy 275 continues to provide the cached response each time theoutgoing request is received until the updated response different fromthe cached response is detected.

When it is determined that the cached response is no longer valid, a newrequest for a given request is transmitted over the wireless network foran updated response. The request can be transmitted to the applicationserver/content provider (e.g., server/host 110) or the proxy server onthe host server (e.g., proxy 325 on the host 300) for a new and updatedresponse. In one embodiment the cached response can be provided again asa response to the outgoing request if a new response is not receivedwithin the time interval, prior to removal of the cached response fromthe cache on the mobile device.

FIG. 4C depicts a block diagram illustrating another example ofcomponents in the application behavior detector 236 and the cachingpolicy manager 245 in the local proxy 275 on the client-side of thedistributed proxy system shown in the example of FIG. 4A. Theillustrated application behavior detector 236 and the caching policymanager 245 can, for example, enable the local proxy 275 to detect cachedefeat and perform caching of content addressed by identifiers intendedto defeat cache.

In one embodiment, the caching policy manager 245 includes a cachedefeat resolution engine 221, an identifier formalizer 211, a cacheappropriateness decision engine 246, a poll schedule generator 247, anapplication protocol module 248, a cache or connect selection engine 249having a cache query module 229, and/or a local cache invalidator 244.The cache defeat resolution engine 221 can further include a patternextraction module 222 and/or a cache defeat parameter detector 223. Thecache defeat parameter detector 223 can further include a randomparameter detector 224 and/or a time/date parameter detector 226. Oneembodiment further includes an application cache policy repository 243coupled to the decision engine 246.

In one embodiment, the application behavior detector 236 includes apattern detector 237, a poll interval detector 238, an applicationprofile generator 239, and/or a priority engine 241. The patterndetector 237 can further include a cache defeat parameter detector 223having also, for example, a random parameter detector 233 and/or atime/date parameter detector 234. One embodiment further includes anapplication profile repository 242 coupled to the application profilegenerator 239. The application profile generator 239, and the priorityengine 241 have been described in association with the description ofthe application behavior detector 236 in the example of FIG. 4A.

The cache defeat resolution engine 221 can detect, identify, track,manage, and/or monitor content or content sources (e.g., servers orhosts) which employ identifiers and/or are addressed by identifiers(e.g., resource identifiers such as URLs and/or URIs) with one or moremechanisms that defeat cache or are intended to defeat cache. The cachedefeat resolution engine 221 can, for example, detect from a given datarequest generated by an application or client that the identifierdefeats or potentially defeats cache, where the data request otherwiseaddresses content or responses from a host or server (e.g., applicationserver/content host 110 or 310) that is cacheable.

In one embodiment, the cache defeat resolution engine 221 detects oridentifies cache defeat mechanisms used by content sources (e.g.,application server/content host 110 or 310) using the identifier of adata request detected at the mobile device 250. The cache defeatresolution engine 221 can detect or identify a parameter in theidentifier which can indicate that cache defeat mechanism is used. Forexample, a format, syntax, or pattern of the parameter can be used toidentify cache defeat (e.g., a pattern, format, or syntax as determinedor extracted by the pattern extraction module 222).

The pattern extraction module 222 can parse an identifier into multipleparameters or components and perform a matching algorithm on eachparameter to identify any of which match one or more predeterminedformats (e.g., a date and/or time format). For example, the results ofthe matching or the parsed out parameters from an identifier can be used(e.g., by the cache defeat parameter detector 223) to identify cachedefeating parameters which can include one or more changing parameters.

The cache defeat parameter detector 223, in one embodiment can detectrandom parameters (e.g., by the random parameter detector 224) and/ortime and/or date parameters which are typically used for cache defeat.The cache defeat parameter detector 223 can detect random parametersand/or time/dates using commonly employed formats for these parametersand performing pattern matching algorithms and tests.

In addition to detecting patterns, formats, and/or syntaxes, the cachedefeat parameter detector 223 further determines or confirms whether agiven parameter is defeating cache and whether the addressed content canbe cached by the distributed caching system. The cache defeat parameterdetector 223 can detect this by analyzing responses received for theidentifiers utilized by a given data request. In general, a changingparameter in the identifier is identified to indicate cache defeat whenresponses corresponding to multiple data requests are the same even whenthe multiple data requests uses identifiers with the changing parameterbeing different for each of the multiple data requests. For example, therequest/response pairs illustrate that the responses received are thesame, even though the resource identifier includes a parameter thatchanges with each request.

For example, at least two same responses may be required to identify thechanging parameter as indicating cache defeat. In some instances, atleast three same responses may be required. The requirement for thenumber of same responses needed to determine that a given parameter witha varying value between requests is cache defeating may be applicationspecific, context dependent, and/or user dependent/user specified, or acombination of the above. Such a requirement may also be static ordynamically adjusted by the distributed cache system to meet certainperformance thresholds and/or either explicit/implicit feedbackregarding user experience (e.g., whether the user or application isreceiving relevant/fresh content responsive to requests). More of thesame responses may be required to confirm cache defeat, or for thesystem to treat a given parameter as intended for cache defeat if anapplication begins to malfunction due to response caching and/or if theuser expresses dissatisfaction (explicit user feedback) or the systemdetects user frustration (implicit user cues).

The cache appropriateness decision engine 246 can detect, assess, ordetermine whether content from a content source (e.g., applicationserver/content provider 110 in the example of FIG. 1C) with which amobile device 250 interacts, has content that may be suitable forcaching. In some instances, content from a given applicationserver/content provider (e.g., the server/provider 110 of FIG. 1C) isdetermined to be suitable for caching based on a set of criteria (forexample, criteria specifying time criticality of the content that isbeing requested from the content source). In one embodiment, the localproxy (e.g., the local proxy 175 or 275 of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG. 4A)applies a selection criteria to store the content from the host serverwhich is requested by an application as cached elements in a local cacheon the mobile device to satisfy subsequent requests made by theapplication.

The selection criteria can also include, by way of example, but notlimitation, state of the mobile device indicating whether the mobiledevice is active or inactive, network conditions, and/or radio coveragestatistics. The cache appropriateness decision engine 246 can any one orany combination of the criteria, and in any order, in identifyingsources for which caching may be suitable.

Once application servers/content providers having identified or detectedcontent that is potentially suitable for local caching on the mobiledevice 250, the cache policy manager 245 can proceed to cache theassociated content received from the identified sources by storingcontent received from the content source as cache elements in a localcache (e.g., local cache 185 or 285 shown in the examples of FIG. 1B-1Cand FIG. 4A, respectively) on the mobile device 250. The content sourcecan also be identified to a proxy server (e.g., proxy server 125 or 325shown in the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG. 5A, respectively) remotefrom and in wireless communication with the mobile device 250 such thatthe proxy server can monitor the content source (e.g., applicationserver/content provider 110) for new or changed data. Similarly, thelocal proxy (e.g., the local proxy 175 or 275 of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG. 4A,respectively) can identify to the proxy server that content receivedfrom a specific application server/content provider is being stored ascached elements in the local cache.

In one embodiment, cache elements are stored in the local cache 285 asbeing associated with a normalized version of an identifier for anidentifier employing one or more parameters intended to defeat cache.The identifier can be normalized by the identifier normalizer module 211and the normalization process can include, by way of example, one ormore of: converting the URI scheme and host to lower-case, capitalizingletters in percent-encoded escape sequences, removing a default port,and removing duplicate slashes.

In another embodiment, the identifier is normalized by removing theparameter for cache defeat and/or replacing the parameter with a staticvalue which can be used to address or be associated with the cachedresponse received responsive to a request utilizing the identifier bythe normalizer 211 or the cache defeat parameter handler 212. Forexample, the cached elements stored in the local cache 285 (shown inFIG. 4A) can be identified using the normalized version of theidentifier or a hash value of the normalized version of the identifier.The hash value of an identifier or of the normalized identifier may begenerated by the hash engine 213.

Once content has been locally cached, the cache policy manager 245 can,upon receiving future polling requests to contact the content server,retrieve the cached elements from the local cache to respond to thepolling request made at the mobile device 250 such that a radio of themobile device is not activated to service the polling request. Suchservicing and fulfilling application (e.g., mobile application) requestslocally via local cache entries allow for more efficient resource andmobile network traffic utilization and management since networkbandwidth and other resources need not be used to request/receive pollresponses which may have not changed from a response that has alreadybeen received at the mobile device 250.

One embodiment of the cache policy manager 245 includes a poll schedulegenerator 247 which can generate a polling schedule for one or moreapplications on the mobile device 250. The polling schedule can specifya polling interval that can be employed by the proxy server (e.g., proxyserver 125 or 325 shown in the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG. 5A) inmonitoring the content source for one or more applications. The pollingschedule can be determined, for example, based on the interval betweenthe polling requests directed to the content source from the mobiledevice. In one embodiment, the poll interval detector 238 of theapplication behavior detector can monitor polling requests directed to acontent source from the mobile device 250 in order to determine aninterval between the polling requests made from any or all application(e.g., mobile application).

In one embodiment, the cache policy manager 245 sends the pollingschedule is sent to the proxy server (e.g., proxy server 125 or 325shown in the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG. 5A) and can be used by theproxy server in monitoring the content source, for example, for changedor new content. The local cache invalidator 244 of the caching policymanager 245 can invalidate cache elements in the local cache (e.g.,cache 185 or 285) when new or changed data is detected from theapplication server/content source for a given request. The new orchanged data can be, for example, detected by the proxy server. When acache entry for a given request/poll has been invalidated and/or removed(e.g., deleted from cache) after invalidation, the use of the radio onthe mobile device 250 can be enabled (e.g., by the local proxy or thecache policy manager 245) to satisfy the subsequent polling requests.

In another embodiment, the proxy server (e.g., proxy server 125 or 325shown in the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG. 5A) uses a modified versionof a resource identifier used in a data request to monitor a givencontent source (the application server/content host 110 of FIG. 1B-1C towhich the data request is addressed) for new or changed data. Forexample, in the instance where the content source or identifier isdetected to employ cache defeat mechanisms, a modified (e.g.,normalized) identifier can be used instead to poll the content source.The modified or normalized version of the identifier can be communicatedto the proxy server by the caching policy manager 245, or morespecifically the cache defeat parameter handler 212 of the identifiernormalizer 211.

The modified identifier used by the proxy server to poll the contentsource on behalf of the mobile device/application (e.g., mobileapplication) may or may not be the same as the normalized identifier.For example, the normalized identifier may be the original identifierwith the changing cache defeating parameter removed whereas the modifiedidentifier uses a substitute parameter in place of the parameter that isused to defeat cache (e.g., the changing parameter replaced with astatic value or other predetermined value known to the local proxyand/or proxy server). The modified parameter can be determined by thelocal proxy 275 and communicated to the proxy server. The modifiedparameter may also be generated by the proxy server (e.g., by theidentifier modifier module 353 shown in the example of FIG. 5C).

One embodiment of the cache policy manager 245 includes a cache orconnect selection engine 249 which can decide whether to use a locallycached entry to satisfy a poll/content request generated at the mobiledevice 250 by an application or widget. For example, the local proxy 275or the cache policy manger 245 can intercept a polling request made byan application (e.g., mobile application) on the mobile device, tocontact the application server/content provider. The selection engine249 can determine whether the content received for the interceptedrequest has been locally stored as cache elements for deciding whetherthe a radio of the mobile device needs to be activated to satisfy therequest made by the application (e.g., mobile application). In oneembodiment, the local proxy 275, in response to determining thatrelevant cached content exists and is still valid, can retrieve thecached elements from the local cache to provide a response to theapplication (e.g., mobile application) which made the polling requestsuch that a radio of the mobile device is not activated to provide theresponse to the application (e.g., mobile application).

In one embodiment, the cached elements stored in the local cache 285(shown in FIG. 2A) can be identified using a normalized version of theidentifier or a hash value of the normalized version of the identifier,for example, using the cache query module 229. Cached elements can bestored with normalized identifiers which have cache defeating parametersremoved or otherwise replaced such that the relevant cached elements canbe identified and retrieved in the future to satisfy other requestsemploying the same type of cache defeat. For example, when an identifierutilized in a subsequent request is determined to be utilizing the samecache defeating parameter, the normalized version of this identifier canbe generated and used to identify a cached response stored in the mobiledevice cache to satisfy the data request. The hash value of anidentifier or of the normalized identifier may be generated by the hashengine 213 of the identifier normalizer 211.

FIG. 4D depicts a block diagram illustrating examples of additionalcomponents in the local proxy 275 shown in the example of FIG. 4A whichis further capable of performing mobile traffic categorization andpolicy implementation based on application behavior and/or useractivity.

In this embodiment of the local proxy 275, the user activity module 215further includes one or more of, a user activity tracker 215 a, a useractivity prediction engine 215 b, and/or a user expectation manager 215c. The application behavior detect 236 can further include aprioritization engine 241 a, a time criticality detection engine 241 b,an application state categorizer 241 c, and/or an application trafficcategorizer 241 d. The local proxy 275 can further include a backlightdetector 219 and/or a network configuration selection engine 251. Thenetwork configuration selection engine 251 can further include, one ormore of, a wireless generation standard selector 251 a, a data ratespecifier 251 b, an access channel selection engine 251 c, and/or anaccess point selector.

In one embodiment, the application behavior detector 236 is able todetect, determined, identify, or infer, the activity state of anapplication on the mobile device 250 to which traffic has originatedfrom or is directed to, for example, via the application statecategorizer 241 c and/or the traffic categorizer 241 d. The activitystate can be determined by whether the application is in a foreground orbackground state on the mobile device (via the application statecategorizer 241 c) since the traffic for a foreground application vs. abackground application may be handled differently.

In one embodiment, the activity state can be determined, detected,identified, or inferred with a level of certainty of heuristics, basedon the backlight status of the mobile device 250 (e.g., by the backlightdetector 219) or other software agents or hardware sensors on the mobiledevice, including but not limited to, resistive sensors, capacitivesensors, ambient light sensors, motion sensors, touch sensors, etc. Ingeneral, if the backlight is on, the traffic can be treated as being ordetermined to be generated from an application that is active or in theforeground, or the traffic is interactive. In addition, if the backlightis on, the traffic can be treated as being or determined to be trafficfrom user interaction or user activity, or traffic containing data thatthe user is expecting within some time frame.

In one embodiment, the activity state is determined based on whether thetraffic is interactive traffic or maintenance traffic. Interactivetraffic can include transactions from responses and requests generateddirectly from user activity/interaction with an application and caninclude content or data that a user is waiting or expecting to receive.Maintenance traffic may be used to support the functionality of anapplication which is not directly detected by a user. Maintenancetraffic can also include actions or transactions that may take place inresponse to a user action, but the user is not actively waiting for orexpecting a response.

For example, a mail or message delete action at a mobile device 250generates a request to delete the corresponding mail or message at theserver, but the user typically is not waiting for a response. Thus, sucha request may be categorized as maintenance traffic, or traffic having alower priority (e.g., by the prioritization engine 241 a) and/or is nottime-critical (e.g., by the time criticality detection engine 214 b).

Contrastingly, a mail ‘read’ or message ‘read’ request initiated by auser a the mobile device 250, can be categorized as ‘interactivetraffic’ since the user generally is waiting to access content or datawhen they request to read a message or mail. Similarly, such a requestcan be categorized as having higher priority (e.g., by theprioritization engine 241 a) and/or as being time critical/timesensitive (e.g., by the time criticality detection engine 241 b).

The time criticality detection engine 241 b can generally determine,identify, infer the time sensitivity of data contained in traffic sentfrom the mobile device 250 or to the mobile device from a host server(e.g., host 300) or application server (e.g., app server/content source110). For example, time sensitive data can include, status updates,stock information updates, IM presence information, email messages orother messages, actions generated from mobile gaming applications,webpage requests, location updates, etc. Data that is not time sensitiveor time critical, by nature of the content or request, can includerequests to delete messages, mark-as-read or edited actions,application-specific actions such as a add-friend or delete-friendrequest, certain types of messages, or other information which does notfrequently changing by nature, etc. In some instances when the data isnot time critical, the timing with which to allow the traffic to passthrough is set based on when additional data needs to be sent from themobile device 250. For example, traffic shaping engine 255 can align thetraffic with one or more subsequent transactions to be sent together ina single power-on event of the mobile device radio (e.g., using thealignment module 256 and/or the batching module 257). The alignmentmodule 256 can also align polling requests occurring close in timedirected to the same host server, since these request are likely to beresponded to with the same data.

In the alternate or in combination, the activity state can be determinedfrom assessing, determining, evaluating, inferring, identifying useractivity at the mobile device 250 (e.g., via the user activity module215). For example, user activity can be directly detected and trackedusing the user activity tracker 215 a. The traffic resulting therefromcan then be categorized appropriately for subsequent processing todetermine the policy for handling. Furthermore, user activity can bepredicted or anticipated by the user activity prediction engine 215 b.By predicting user activity or anticipating user activity, the trafficthus occurring after the prediction can be treated as resulting fromuser activity and categorized appropriately to determine thetransmission policy.

In addition, the user activity module 215 can also manage userexpectations (e.g., via the user expectation manager 215 c and/or inconjunction with the activity tracker 215 and/or the prediction engine215 b) to ensure that traffic is categorized appropriately such thatuser expectations are generally met. For example, a user-initiatedaction should be analyzed (e.g., by the expectation manager 215) todetermine or infer whether the user would be waiting for a response. Ifso, such traffic should be handled under a policy such that the userdoes not experience an unpleasant delay in receiving such a response oraction.

In one embodiment, an advanced generation wireless standard network isselected for use in sending traffic between a mobile device and a hostserver in the wireless network based on the activity state of theapplication on the mobile device for which traffic is originated from ordirected to. An advanced technology standards such as the 3G, 3.5G, 3G+,4G, or LTE network can be selected for handling traffic generated as aresult of user interaction, user activity, or traffic containing datathat the user is expecting or waiting for. Advanced generation wirelessstandard network can also be selected for to transmit data contained intraffic directed to the mobile device which responds to foregroundactivities.

In categorizing traffic and defining a transmission policy for mobiletraffic, a network configuration can be selected for use (e.g., by thenetwork configuration selection engine 251) on the mobile device 250 insending traffic between the mobile device and a proxy server (325)and/or an application server (e.g., app server/host 110). The networkconfiguration that is selected can be determined based on informationgathered by the application behavior module 236 regarding applicationactivity state (e.g., background or foreground traffic), applicationtraffic category (e.g., interactive or maintenance traffic), anypriorities of the data/content, time sensitivity/criticality.

The network configuration selection engine 2510 can select or specifyone or more of, a generation standard (e.g., via wireless generationstandard selector 251 a), a data rate (e.g., via data rate specifier 251b), an access channel (e.g., access channel selection engine 251 c),and/or an access point (e.g., via the access point selector 251 d), inany combination.

For example, a more advanced generation (e.g., 3G, LTE, or 4G or later)can be selected or specified for traffic when the activity state is ininteraction with a user or in a foreground on the mobile device.Contrastingly, an older generation standard (e.g., 2G, 2.5G, or 3G orolder) can be specified for traffic when one or more of the following isdetected, the application is not interacting with the user, theapplication is running in the background on the mobile device, or thedata contained in the traffic is not time critical, or is otherwisedetermined to have lower priority.

Similarly, a network configuration with a slower data rate can bespecified for traffic when one or more of the following is detected, theapplication is not interacting with the user, the application is runningin the background on the mobile device, or the data contained in thetraffic is not time critical. The access channel (e.g., Forward accesschannel or dedicated channel) can be specified.

FIG. 5A depicts a block diagram illustrating an example of server-sidecomponents in a distributed proxy and cache system residing on a hostserver 300 that manages traffic in a wireless network for resourceconservation. The server-side proxy (or proxy server 325) can furthercategorize mobile traffic and/or implement delivery policies based onapplication behavior, content priority, user activity, and/or userexpectations.

The host server 300 generally includes, for example, a network interface308 and/or one or more repositories 312, 314, and 316. Note that server300 may be any portable/mobile or non-portable device, server, clusterof computers and/or other types of processing units (e.g., any number ofa machine shown in the example of FIG. 27) able to receive or transmitsignals to satisfy data requests over a network including any wired orwireless networks (e.g., Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth, etc.).

The network interface 308 can include networking module(s) or devices(s)that enable the server 300 to mediate data in a network with an entitythat is external to the host server 300, through any known and/orconvenient communications protocol supported by the host and theexternal entity. Specifically, the network interface 308 allows theserver 300 to communicate with multiple devices including mobile phonedevices 350 and/or one or more application servers/content providers310.

The host server 300 can store information about connections (e.g.,network characteristics, conditions, types of connections, etc.) withdevices in the connection metadata repository 312. Additionally, anyinformation about third party application or content providers can alsobe stored in the repository 312. The host server 300 can storeinformation about devices (e.g., hardware capability, properties, devicesettings, device language, network capability, manufacturer, devicemodel, OS, OS version, etc.) in the device information repository 314.Additionally, the host server 300 can store information about networkproviders and the various network service areas in the network serviceprovider repository 316.

The communication enabled by network interface 308 allows forsimultaneous connections (e.g., including cellular connections) withdevices 350 and/or connections (e.g., including wired/wireless, HTTP,Internet connections, LAN, WiFi, etc.) with content servers/providers310 to manage the traffic between devices 350 and content providers 310,for optimizing network resource utilization and/or to conserver power(battery) consumption on the serviced devices 350. The host server 300can communicate with mobile devices 350 serviced by different networkservice providers and/or in the same/different network service areas.The host server 300 can operate and is compatible with devices 350 withvarying types or levels of mobile capabilities, including by way ofexample but not limitation, 1G, 2G, 2G transitional (2.5G, 2.75G), 3G(IMT-2000), 3G transitional (3.5G, 3.75G, 3.9G), 4G (IMT-advanced), etc.

In general, the network interface 308 can include one or more of anetwork adaptor card, a wireless network interface card (e.g., SMSinterface, Wi-Fi interface, interfaces for various generations of mobilecommunication standards including but not limited to 1G, 2G, 3G, 3.5G,4G type networks such as LTE, WiMAX, etc.), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or anyother network whether or not connected via a router, an access point, awireless router, a switch, a multilayer switch, a protocol converter, agateway, a bridge, a bridge router, a hub, a digital media receiver,and/or a repeater.

The host server 300 can further include server-side components of thedistributed proxy and cache system which can include a proxy server 325and a server cache 335. In one embodiment, the proxy server 325 caninclude an HTTP access engine 345, a caching policy manager 355, a proxycontroller 365, a traffic shaping engine 375, a new data detector 347and/or a connection manager 395.

The HTTP access engine 345 may further include a heartbeat manager 398;the proxy controller 365 may further include a data invalidator module368; the traffic shaping engine 375 may further include a controlprotocol 376 and a batching module 377. Additional or lesscomponents/modules/engines can be included in the proxy server 325 andeach illustrated component.

As used herein, a “module,” a “manager,” a “handler,” a “detector,” an“interface,” a “controller,” a “normalizer,” a “generator,” an“invalidator,” or an “engine” includes a general purpose, dedicated orshared processor and, typically, firmware or software modules that areexecuted by the processor. Depending upon implementation-specific orother considerations, the module, manager, handler, detector, interface,controller, normalizer, generator, invalidator, or engine can becentralized or its functionality distributed. The module, manager,handler, detector, interface, controller, normalizer, generator,invalidator, or engine can include general or special purpose hardware,firmware, or software embodied in a computer-readable (storage) mediumfor execution by the processor. As used herein, a computer-readablemedium or computer-readable storage medium is intended to include allmediums that are statutory (e.g., in the United States, under 35 U.S.C.101), and to specifically exclude all mediums that are non-statutory innature to the extent that the exclusion is necessary for a claim thatincludes the computer-readable (storage) medium to be valid. Knownstatutory computer-readable mediums include hardware (e.g., registers,random access memory (RAM), non-volatile (NV) storage, to name a few),but may or may not be limited to hardware.

In the example of a device (e.g., mobile device 350) making anapplication or content request to an application server or contentprovider 310, the request may be intercepted and routed to the proxyserver 325 which is coupled to the device 350 and the applicationserver/content provider 310. Specifically, the proxy server is able tocommunicate with the local proxy (e.g., proxy 175 and 275 of theexamples of FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 respectively) of the mobile device 350,the local proxy forwards the data request to the proxy server 325 insome instances for further processing and, if needed, for transmissionto the application server/content server 310 for a response to the datarequest.

In such a configuration, the host 300, or the proxy server 325 in thehost server 300 can utilize intelligent information provided by thelocal proxy in adjusting its communication with the device in such amanner that optimizes use of network and device resources. For example,the proxy server 325 can identify characteristics of user activity onthe device 350 to modify its communication frequency. Thecharacteristics of user activity can be determined by, for example, theactivity/behavior awareness module 366 in the proxy controller 365 viainformation collected by the local proxy on the device 350.

In one embodiment, communication frequency can be controlled by theconnection manager 395 of the proxy server 325, for example, to adjustpush frequency of content or updates to the device 350. For instance,push frequency can be decreased by the connection manager 395 whencharacteristics of the user activity indicate that the user is inactive.In one embodiment, when the characteristics of the user activityindicate that the user is subsequently active after a period ofinactivity, the connection manager 395 can adjust the communicationfrequency with the device 350 to send data that was buffered as a resultof decreased communication frequency to the device 350.

In addition, the proxy server 325 includes priority awareness of variousrequests, transactions, sessions, applications, and/or specific events.Such awareness can be determined by the local proxy on the device 350and provided to the proxy server 325. The priority awareness module 367of the proxy server 325 can generally assess the priority (e.g.,including time-criticality, time-sensitivity, etc.) of various events orapplications; additionally, the priority awareness module 367 can trackpriorities determined by local proxies of devices 350.

In one embodiment, through priority awareness, the connection manager395 can further modify communication frequency (e.g., use or radio ascontrolled by the radio controller 396) of the server 300 with thedevices 350. For example, the server 300 can notify the device 350, thusrequesting use of the radio if it is not already in use when data orupdates of an importance/priority level which meets a criteria becomesavailable to be sent.

In one embodiment, the proxy server 325 can detect multiple occurrencesof events (e.g., transactions, content, data received fromserver/provider 310) and allow the events to accumulate for batchtransfer to device 350. Batch transfer can be cumulated and transfer ofevents can be delayed based on priority awareness and/or useractivity/application behavior awareness as tracked by modules 367 and/or366. For example, batch transfer of multiple events (of a lowerpriority) to the device 350 can be initiated by the batching module 377when an event of a higher priority (meeting a threshold or criteria) isdetected at the server 300. In addition, batch transfer from the server300 can be triggered when the server receives data from the device 350,indicating that the device radio is already in use and is thus on. Inone embodiment, the proxy server 325 can order the each messages/packetsin a batch for transmission based on event/transaction priority suchthat higher priority content can be sent first in case connection islost or the battery dies, etc.

In one embodiment, the server 300 caches data (e.g., as managed by thecaching policy manager 355) such that communication frequency over anetwork (e.g., cellular network) with the device 350 can be modified(e.g., decreased). The data can be cached, for example, in the servercache 335 for subsequent retrieval or batch sending to the device 350 topotentially decrease the need to turn on the device 350 radio. Theserver cache 335 can be partially or wholly internal to the host server300, although in the example of FIG. 5A it is shown as being external tothe host 300. In some instances, the server cache 335 may be the same asand/or integrated in part or in whole with another cache managed byanother entity (e.g., the optional caching proxy server 199 shown in theexample of FIG. 1C), such as being managed by an applicationserver/content provider 310, a network service provider, or anotherthird party.

In one embodiment, content caching is performed locally on the device350 with the assistance of host server 300. For example, proxy server325 in the host server 300 can query the application server/provider 310with requests and monitor changes in responses. When changed or newresponses are detected (e.g., by the new data detector 347), the proxyserver 325 can notify the mobile device 350 such that the local proxy onthe device 350 can make the decision to invalidate (e.g., indicated asout-dated) the relevant cache entries stored as any responses in itslocal cache. Alternatively, the data invalidator module 368 canautomatically instruct the local proxy of the device 350 to invalidatecertain cached data, based on received responses from the applicationserver/provider 310. The cached data is marked as invalid, and can getreplaced or deleted when new content is received from the content server310.

Note that data change can be detected by the detector 347 in one or moreways. For example, the server/provider 310 can notify the host server300 upon a change. The change can also be detected at the host server300 in response to a direct poll of the source server/provider 310. Insome instances, the proxy server 325 can in addition, pre-load the localcache on the device 350 with the new/updated data. This can be performedwhen the host server 300 detects that the radio on the mobile device isalready in use, or when the server 300 has additional content/data to besent to the device 350.

One or more the above mechanisms can be implemented simultaneously oradjusted/configured based on application (e.g., different policies fordifferent servers/providers 310). In some instances, the sourceprovider/server 310 may notify the host 300 for certain types of events(e.g., events meeting a priority threshold level). In addition, theprovider/server 310 may be configured to notify the host 300 at specifictime intervals, regardless of event priority.

In one embodiment, the proxy server 325 of the host 300 canmonitor/track responses received for the data request from the contentsource for changed results prior to returning the result to the mobiledevice, such monitoring may be suitable when data request to the contentsource has yielded same results to be returned to the mobile device,thus preventing network/power consumption from being used when no newchanges are made to a particular requested. The local proxy of thedevice 350 can instruct the proxy server 325 to perform such monitoringor the proxy server 325 can automatically initiate such a process uponreceiving a certain number of the same responses (e.g., or a number ofthe same responses in a period of time) for a particular request.

In one embodiment, the server 300, through the activity/behaviorawareness module 366, is able to identify or detect user activity at adevice that is separate from the mobile device 350. For example, themodule 366 may detect that a user's message inbox (e.g., email or typesof inbox) is being accessed. This can indicate that the user isinteracting with his/her application using a device other than themobile device 350 and may not need frequent updates, if at all.

The server 300, in this instance, can thus decrease the frequency withwhich new or updated content is sent to the mobile device 350, oreliminate all communication for as long as the user is detected to beusing another device for access. Such frequency decrease may beapplication specific (e.g., for the application with which the user isinteracting with on another device), or it may be a general frequencydecrease (E.g., since the user is detected to be interacting with oneserver or one application via another device, he/she could also use itto access other services.) to the mobile device 350.

In one embodiment, the host server 300 is able to poll content sources310 on behalf of devices 350 to conserve power or battery consumption ondevices 350. For example, certain applications on the mobile device 350can poll its respective server 310 in a predictable recurring fashion.Such recurrence or other types of application behaviors can be trackedby the activity/behavior module 366 in the proxy controller 365. Thehost server 300 can thus poll content sources 310 for applications onthe mobile device 350 that would otherwise be performed by the device350 through a wireless (e.g., including cellular connectivity). The hostserver can poll the sources 310 for new or changed data by way of theHTTP access engine 345 to establish HTTP connection or by way of radiocontroller 396 to connect to the source 310 over the cellular network.When new or changed data is detected, the new data detector 347 cannotify the device 350 that such data is available and/or provide thenew/changed data to the device 350.

In one embodiment, the connection manager 395 determines that the mobiledevice 350 is unavailable (e.g., the radio is turned off) and utilizesSMS to transmit content to the device 350, for instance, via the SMSCshown in the example of FIG. 1C. SMS is used to transmit invalidationmessages, batches of invalidation messages, or even content in the casewhere the content is small enough to fit into just a few (usually one ortwo) SMS messages. This avoids the need to access the radio channel tosend overhead information. The host server 300 can use SMS for certaintransactions or responses having a priority level above a threshold orotherwise meeting a criteria. The server 300 can also utilize SMS as anout-of-band trigger to maintain or wake-up an IP connection as analternative to maintaining an always-on IP connection.

In one embodiment, the connection manager 395 in the proxy server 325(e.g., the heartbeat manager 398) can generate and/or transmit heartbeatmessages on behalf of connected devices 350 to maintain a backendconnection with a provider 310 for applications running on devices 350.

For example, in the distributed proxy system, local cache on the device350 can prevent any or all heartbeat messages needed to maintain TCP/IPconnections required for applications from being sent over the cellular,or other, network and instead rely on the proxy server 325 on the hostserver 300 to generate and/or send the heartbeat messages to maintain aconnection with the backend (e.g., application server/provider 110 inthe example of FIG. IA). The proxy server can generate the keep-alive(heartbeat) messages independent of the operations of the local proxy onthe mobile device.

The repositories 312, 314, and/or 316 can additionally store software,descriptive data, images, system information, drivers, and/or any otherdata item utilized by other components of the host server 300 and/or anyother servers for operation. The repositories may be managed by adatabase management system (DBMS), for example, which may be but is notlimited to ORACLE, DB2, MICROSOFT ACCESS, MICROSOFT SQL Server,PostgreSQL, MySQL, FileMaker, etc.

The repositories can be implemented via object-oriented technologyand/or via text files and can be managed by a distributed databasemanagement system, an object-oriented database management system(OODBMS) (e.g., ConceptBase, FastDB Main Memory Database ManagementSystem, JDOlnstruments, ObjectDB, etc.), an object-relational databasemanagement system (ORDBMS) (e.g., Informix, OpenLink Virtuoso, VMDS,etc.), a file system, and/or any other convenient or known databasemanagement package.

FIG. 5B depicts a block diagram illustrating a further example ofcomponents in the caching policy manager 355 in the cache system shownin the example of FIG. 5A which is capable of caching and adaptingcaching strategies for application (e.g., mobile application) behaviorand/or network conditions.

The caching policy manager 355, in one embodiment, can further include ametadata generator 303, a cache look-up engine 305, an applicationprotocol module 356, a content source monitoring engine 357 having apoll schedule manager 358, a response analyzer 361, and/or an updated ornew content detector 359. In one embodiment, the poll schedule manager358 further includes a host timing simulator 358 a, a long poll requestdetector/manager 358 b, a schedule update engine 358 c, and/or a timeadjustment engine 358 d. The metadata generator 303 and/or the cachelook-up engine 305 can be coupled to the cache 335 (or, server cache)for modification or addition to cache entries or querying thereof.

In one embodiment, the proxy server (e.g., the proxy server 125 or 325of the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG. 5A) can monitor a content sourcefor new or changed data via the monitoring engine 357. The proxy server,as shown, is an entity external to the mobile device 250 of FIG. 4A-B.The content source (e.g., application server/content provider 110 ofFIG. 1B-1C) can be one that has been identified to the proxy server(e.g., by the local proxy) as having content that is being locallycached on a mobile device (e.g., mobile device 150 or 250). The contentsource can be monitored, for example, by the monitoring engine 357 at afrequency that is based on polling frequency of the content source atthe mobile device. The poll schedule can be generated, for example, bythe local proxy and sent to the proxy server. The poll frequency can betracked and/or managed by the poll schedule manager 358.

For example, the proxy server can poll the host (e.g., contentprovider/application server) on behalf of the mobile device and simulatethe polling behavior of the client to the host via the host timingsimulator 358 a. The polling behavior can be simulated to includecharacteristics of a long poll request-response sequences experienced ina persistent connection with the host (e.g., by the long poll requestdetector/manager 358 b). Note that once a polling interval/behavior isset, the local proxy 275 on the device-side and/or the proxy server 325on the server-side can verify whether application and applicationserver/content host behavior match or can be represented by thispredicted pattern. In general, the local proxy and/or the proxy servercan detect deviations and, when appropriate, re-evaluate and compute,determine, or estimate another polling interval.

In one embodiment, the caching policy manager 355 on the server-side ofthe distribute proxy can, in conjunction with or independent of theproxy server 275 on the mobile device, identify or detect long pollrequests. For example, the caching policy manager 355 can determine athreshold value to be used in comparison with a response delay intervaltime in a request-response sequence for an application request toidentify or detect long poll requests, possible long poll requests(e.g., requests for a persistent connection with a host with which theclient communicates including, but not limited to, a long-held HTTPrequest, a persistent connection enabling COMET style push, request forHTTP streaming, etc.), or other requests which can otherwise be treatedas a long poll request.

For example, the threshold value can be determined by the proxy 325using response delay interval times for requests generated byclients/applications across mobile devices which may be serviced bymultiple different cellular or wireless networks. Since the proxy 325resides on host 300 is able to communicate with multiple mobile devicesvia multiple networks, the caching policy manager 355 has access toapplication/client information at a global level which can be used insetting threshold values to categorize and detect long polls.

By tracking response delay interval times across applications acrossdevices over different or same networks, the caching policy manager 355can set one or more threshold values to be used in comparison withresponse delay interval times for long poll detection. Threshold valuesset by the proxy server 325 can be static or dynamic, and can beassociated with conditions and/or a time-to-live (an expirationtime/date in relative or absolute terms).

In addition, the caching policy manager 355 of the proxy 325 can furtherdetermine the threshold value, in whole or in part, based on networkdelays of a given wireless network, networks serviced by a given carrier(service provider), or multiple wireless networks. The proxy 325 canalso determine the threshold value for identification of long pollrequests based on delays of one or more application server/contentprovider (e.g., 110) to which application (e.g., mobile application) ormobile client requests are directed.

The proxy server can detect new or changed data at a monitored contentsource and transmits a message to the mobile device notifying it of sucha change such that the mobile device (or the local proxy on the mobiledevice) can take appropriate action (e.g., to invalidate the cacheelements in the local cache). In some instances, the proxy server (e.g.,the caching policy manager 355) upon detecting new or changed data canalso store the new or changed data in its cache (e.g., the server cache135 or 335 of the examples of FIG. 1C and FIG. 5A, respectively). Thenew/updated data stored in the server cache 335 can be used in someinstances to satisfy content requests at the mobile device; for example,it can be used after the proxy server has notified the mobile device ofthe new/changed content and that the locally cached content has beeninvalidated.

The metadata generator 303, similar to the metadata generator 203 shownin the example of FIG. 4B, can generate metadata for responses cachedfor requests at the mobile device 250. The metadata generator 303 cangenerate metadata for cache entries stored in the server cache 335.Similarly, the cache look-up engine 305 can include the same or similarfunctions are those described for the cache look-up engine 205 shown inthe example of FIG. 4B.

The response analyzer 361 can perform any or all of the functionalitiesrelated to analyzing responses received for requests generated at themobile device 250 in the same or similar fashion to the responseanalyzer 246 d of the local proxy shown in the example of FIG. 4B. Sincethe proxy server 325 is able to receive responses from the applicationserver/content source 310 directed to the mobile device 250, the proxyserver 325 (e.g., the response analyzer 361) can perform similarresponse analysis steps to determine cacheability, as described for theresponse analyzer of the local proxy. The responses can be analyzed inaddition to or in lieu of the analysis that can be performed at thelocal proxy 275 on the mobile device 250.

Furthermore, the schedule update engine 358 c can update the pollinginterval of a given application server/content host based on applicationrequest interval changes of the application at the mobile device 250 asdescribed for the schedule update engine in the local proxy 275. Thetime adjustment engine 358 d can set an initial time at which polls ofthe application server/content host is to begin to prevent the servingof out of date content once again before serving fresh content asdescribed for the schedule update engine in the local proxy 275. Boththe schedule updating and the time adjustment algorithms can beperformed in conjunction with or in lieu of the similar processesperformed at the local proxy 275 on the mobile device 250.

FIG. 5C depicts a block diagram illustrating another example ofcomponents in the caching policy manager 355 in the proxy server 375 onthe server-side of the distributed proxy system shown in the example ofFIG. 5A which is capable of managing and detecting cache defeatingmechanisms and monitoring content sources.

The caching policy manager 355, in one embodiment, can further include acache defeating source manager 352, a content source monitoring engine357 having a poll schedule manager 358, and/or an updated or new contentdetector 359. The cache defeating source manager 352 can further includean identifier modifier module 353 and/or an identifier pattern trackingmodule 354.

In one embodiment, the proxy server (e.g., the proxy server 125 or 325of the examples of FIG. 1B-1C and FIG. 5A) can monitor a content sourcefor new or changed data via the monitoring engine 357. The contentsource (e.g., application server/content provider 110 of FIG. 1B-1C or310 of FIG. 5A) can be one that has been identified to the proxy server(e.g., by the local proxy) as having content that is being locallycached on a mobile device (e.g., mobile device 150 or 250). The contentsource 310 can be monitored, for example, by the monitoring engine 357at a frequency that is based on polling frequency of the content sourceat the mobile device. The poll schedule can be generated, for example,by the local proxy and sent to the proxy server 325. The poll frequencycan be tracked and/or managed by the poll schedule manager 358.

In one embodiment, the proxy server 325 uses a normalized identifier ormodified identifier in polling the content source 310 to detect new orchanged data (responses). The normalized identifier or modifiedidentifier can also be used by the proxy server 325 in storing responseson the server cache 335. In general, the normalized or modifiedidentifiers can be used when cache defeat mechanisms are employed forcacheable content. Cache defeat mechanisms can be in the form of achanging parameter in an identifier such as a URI or URL and can includea changing time/data parameter, a randomly varying parameter, or othertypes parameters.

The normalized identifier or modified identifier removes or otherwisereplaces the changing parameter for association with subsequent requestsand identification of associated responses and can also be used to pollthe content source. In one embodiment, the modified identifier isgenerated by the cache defeating source manager 352 (e.g., theidentifier modifier module 353) of the caching policy manager 355 on theproxy server 325 (server-side component of the distributed proxysystem). The modified identifier can utilize a substitute parameter(which is generally static over a period of time) in place of thechanging parameter that is used to defeat cache.

The cache defeating source manager 352 optionally includes theidentifier pattern tracking module 354 to track, store, and monitor thevarious modifications of an identifier or identifiers that addresscontent for one or more content sources (e.g., applicationserver/content host 110 or 310) to continuously verify that the modifiedidentifiers and/or normalized identifiers used by the proxy server 325to poll the content sources work as predicted or intended (e.g., receivethe same responses or responses that are otherwise still relevantcompared to the original, unmodified identifier).

In the event that the pattern tracking module 354 detects a modificationor normalization of an identifier that causes erratic or unpredictablebehavior (e.g., unexpected responses to be sent) on the content source,the tracking module 354 can log the modification and instruct the cachedefeating source manager 352 to generate anothermodification/normalization, or notify the local proxy (e.g., local proxy275) to generate another modification/normalization for use in pollingthe content source. In the alternative or in parallel, the requests fromthe given mobile application/client on the mobile device (e.g., mobiledevice 250) can temporarily be sent across the network to the contentsource for direct responses to be provided to the mobile device and/oruntil a modification of an identifier which works can be generated.

In one embodiment, responses are stored as server cache elements in theserver cache when new or changed data is detected for a response that isalready stored on a local cache (e.g., cache 285) of the mobile device(e.g., mobile device 250). Therefore, the mobile device or local proxy275 can connect to the proxy server 325 to retrieve the new or changeddata for a response to a request which was previously cached locally inthe local cache 285 (now invalid, out-dated, or otherwise determined tobe irrelevant).

The proxy server 325 can detect new or changed data at a monitoredapplication server/content host 310 and transmits a message to themobile device notifying it of such a change such that the mobile device(or the local proxy on the mobile device) can take appropriate action(e.g., to invalidate the cache elements in the local cache). In someinstances, the proxy server (e.g., the caching policy manager 355), upondetecting new or changed data, can also store the new or changed data inits cache (e.g., the server cache 135 or 335 of the examples of FIG. 1Cand FIG. 5A, respectively). The updated/new data stored in the servercache can be used, in some instances, to satisfy content requests at themobile device; for example, it can be used after the proxy server hasnotified the mobile device of the new/changed content and that thelocally cached content has been invalidated.

FIG. 5D depicts a block diagram illustrating examples of additionalcomponents in proxy server 325 shown in the example of FIG. 5A which isfurther capable of performing mobile traffic categorization and policyimplementation based on application behavior and/or traffic priority.

In one embodiment of the proxy server 325, the traffic shaping engine375 is further coupled to a traffic analyzer 336 for categorizing mobiletraffic for policy definition and implementation for mobile traffic andtransactions directed to one or more mobile devices (e.g., mobile device250 of FIG. 4A-4D) or to an application server/content host (e.g., 110of FIG. 1B-1C). In general, the proxy server 325 is remote from themobile devices and remote from the host server, as shown in the examplesof FIG. 1B-1C. The proxy server 325 or the host server 300 can monitorthe traffic for multiple mobile devices and is capable of categorizingtraffic and devising traffic policies for different mobile devices.

In addition, the proxy server 325 or host server 300 can operate withmultiple carriers or network operators and can implementcarrier-specific policies relating to categorization of traffic andimplementation of traffic policies for the various categories. Forexample, the traffic analyzer 336 of the proxy server 325 or host server300 can include one or more of, a prioritization engine 341 a, a timecriticality detection engine 341 b, an application state categorizer 341c, and/or an application traffic categorizer 341 d.

Each of these engines or modules can track different criterion for whatis considered priority, time critical, background/foreground, orinteractive/maintenance based on different wireless carriers. Differentcriterion may also exist for different mobile device types (e.g., devicemodel, manufacturer, operating system, etc.). In some instances, theuser of the mobile devices can adjust the settings or criterionregarding traffic category and the proxy server 325 is able to track andimplement these user adjusted/configured settings.

In one embodiment, the traffic analyzer 336 is able to detect,determined, identify, or infer, the activity state of an application onone or more mobile devices (e.g., mobile device 150 or 250) whichtraffic has originated from or is directed to, for example, via theapplication state categorizer 341 c and/or the traffic categorizer 341d. The activity state can be determined based on whether the applicationis in a foreground or background state on one or more of the mobiledevices (via the application state categorizer 341 c) since the trafficfor a foreground application vs. a background application may be handleddifferently to optimize network use.

In the alternate or in combination, the activity state of an applicationcan be determined by the wirelessly connected mobile devices (e.g., viathe application behavior detectors in the local proxies) andcommunicated to the proxy server 325. For example, the activity statecan be determined, detected, identified, or inferred with a level ofcertainty of heuristics, based on the backlight status at mobile devices(e.g., by a backlight detector) or other software agents or hardwaresensors on the mobile device, including but not limited to, resistivesensors, capacitive sensors, ambient light sensors, motion sensors,touch sensors, etc. In general, if the backlight is on, the traffic canbe treated as being or determined to be generated from an applicationthat is active or in the foreground, or the traffic is interactive. Inaddition, if the backlight is on, the traffic can be treated as being ordetermined to be traffic from user interaction or user activity, ortraffic containing data that the user is expecting within some timeframe.

The activity state can be determined from assessing, determining,evaluating, inferring, identifying user activity at the mobile device250 (e.g., via the user activity module 215) and communicated to theproxy server 325. In one embodiment, the activity state is determinedbased on whether the traffic is interactive traffic or maintenancetraffic. Interactive traffic can include transactions from responses andrequests generated directly from user activity/interaction with anapplication and can include content or data that a user is waiting orexpecting to receive. Maintenance traffic may be used to support thefunctionality of an application which is not directly detected by auser. Maintenance traffic can also include actions or transactions thatmay take place in response to a user action, but the user is notactively waiting for or expecting a response.

The time criticality detection engine 341 b can generally determine,identify, infer the time sensitivity of data contained in traffic sentfrom the mobile device 250 or to the mobile device from the host server300 or proxy server 325, or the application server (e.g., appserver/content source 110). For example, time sensitive data caninclude, status updates, stock information updates, IM presenceinformation, email messages or other messages, actions generated frommobile gaming applications, webpage requests, location updates, etc.

Data that is not time sensitive or time critical, by nature of thecontent or request, can include requests to delete messages,mark-as-read or edited actions, application-specific actions such as aadd-friend or delete-friend request, certain types of messages, or otherinformation which does not frequently changing by nature, etc. In someinstances when the data is not time critical, the timing with which toallow the traffic to be sent to a mobile device is based on when thereis additional data that needs to the sent to the same mobile device. Forexample, traffic shaping engine 375 can align the traffic with one ormore subsequent transactions to be sent together in a single power-onevent of the mobile device radio (e.g., using the alignment module 378and/or the batching module 377). The alignment module 378 can also alignpolling requests occurring close in time directed to the same hostserver, since these request are likely to be responded to with the samedata.

In general, whether new or changed data is sent from a host server to amobile device can be determined based on whether an application on themobile device to which the new or changed data is relevant, is runningin a foreground (e.g., by the application state categorizer 341 c), orthe priority or time criticality of the new or changed data. The proxyserver 325 can send the new or changed data to the mobile device if theapplication is in the foreground on the mobile device, or if theapplication is in the foreground and in an active state interacting witha user on the mobile device, and/or whether a user is waiting for aresponse that would be provided in the new or changed data. The proxyserver 325 (or traffic shaping engine 375) can send the new or changeddata that is of a high priority or is time critical.

Similarly, the proxy server 325 (or the traffic shaping engine 375) cansuppressing the sending of the new or changed data if the application isin the background on the mobile device. The proxy server 325 can alsosuppress the sending of the new or changed data if the user is notwaiting for the response provided in the new or changed data; whereinthe suppressing is performed by a proxy server coupled to the hostserver and able to wirelessly connect to the mobile device.

In general, if data, including new or change data is of a low priorityor is not time critical, the proxy server can waiting to transfer thedata until after a time period, or until there is additional data to besent (e.g. via the alignment module 378 and/or the batching module 377).

Example Signaling Optimization Processes

FIG. 6 depicts a flow diagram illustrating an example data flow 600between a mobile application 602, a content server 608 (e.g., contentserver 110) and a local proxy 604 and a proxy server 325 for optimizingsignaling in a wireless network for traffic utilizing proprietary(non-standard) and non-proprietary protocols. In one implementation,local proxy 604 can include all or some of the components of the localproxy 275 and the non-proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptationengine 401, or only the non-proprietary/standard protocol adaptationengine 401.

The local proxy 604 can establish a first TCP session 610 with a mobileapplication to capture byte streams (e.g., via the byte streaminterface) from the application. The local proxy 604 can also establisha second TCP session 612 with a proxy server 325 having theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 501 to pass bytestreams captured from the application. A third TCP session 614 can beestablished between the proxy server 325 and the content server 608 forrouting byte streams corresponding to the application received from thelocal proxy 604. Necessary handshakes can be allowed for the applicationto complete the TCP session establishment with the content server 608.

A request data 618 comprising a byte stream can be received from orcaptured by the local proxy 604 over the first TCP session. The requestdata 620 can be passed on to the proxy server 325 over the second TCPsession, which then passes the request data 624 to the content server608 over the third TCP session. Since the request data is passed as abyte stream, it is not necessary to be aware of any protocol details. Aresponse data 628 from the content server can be captured by the proxyserver 325, and then passed on as response data 630 to the local proxy604, also in the form of byte stream. The local proxy then forwards theresponse data 632 to the application. The request data and response datacan be routed via the local proxy 604 and the proxy server 325 a numberof times until a pattern can be detected from the byte streams at block634 at the local proxy side, and/or at block 636 at the proxy server 325side. In one implementation, instead of routing the data request via theproxy server 325, a different routing can be selected. For example, aTCP session between the local proxy 604 and the content server 608 canbe established and the request data 626 a can be routed directly to thecontent server over the TCP session and response data 626 b can berouted directly to the local proxy 604. The routing can continue until apattern is detected, after which the TCP session with the content server608 can be disconnected, and a TCP session with the proxy server 325 canbe established for signaling optimization.

Once a pattern corresponding to byte streams in a transaction (i.e.,request data and response data) has been identified (e.g., at block 634and/or block 636), the local proxy can terminate the second TCP session638 with the proxy server 325. With the link to the proxy server 325down, the local proxy can then replay the transaction pattern 640captured by the local proxy to the application in response to a requestdata. In one implementation, the replay can rely on a cache file orother cached data. Similarly, the proxy server 325 can also replay thetransaction pattern 642 to the content server 608. This local replayingof transaction pattern minimizes the network traffic and reducescongestion.

FIG. 7 depicts a logic flow diagram illustrating an example method 700implemented on a mobile device for optimizing signaling in a wirelessnetwork for traffic utilizing proprietary (non-standard) and/ornon-proprietary (standard) protocols according to a first embodiment. Inone embodiment, at block 702, the mobile device having theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401, can establish aTCP (or any other appropriate session) with a mobile application on themobile device. At block 704, a TCP session with a proxy server (e.g.,proxy server 325) can be established. At block 706, byte streams fromthe mobile application are captured. In one implementation, eachcaptured byte stream comprising a transaction can be cached. Theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401 can observe,monitor and/or analyze the byte streams to identify a transactionpattern. At decision block 708, if a transaction pattern cannot beidentified from the byte streams, the byte streams from the applicationare routed directly to the content server at block 710. In thisinstance, an optimization may not be possible because of the lack of anyidentifiable pattern in the byte streams. Alternately, if a transactionpattern is identified from the byte streams at block 708, theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401 can tear downthe TCP session with the proxy server at block 712.

A byte stream is captured or received from the mobile application atblock 714. If the byte stream matches a previously identified pattern asdetermined at decision block 715, the corresponding matching transactionpattern can be replayed to the mobile application at block 718. In oneimplementation, binary matching and normalization processes alone and/ordifferent pattern recognitions for the content in byte streams can besupported in determining whether a byte stream matches a previouslyidentified pattern. For example, the value of the binary data or bytestream incremented by one per transaction can be recognized. Similarly,time stamp within the byte stream can also be recognized if present. Insome implementations, any random part of a data stream can be normalizedor removed. Using these and other pattern recognition methods, theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401 can determinewhether a byte stream from the mobile application matches the identifiedpattern. If there is no match, then the byte stream can be identified ashaving changed content at block 720.

At block 722, the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine401 can establish a new TCP session with the proxy server. The changedcontent can be delivered to the proxy server via the newly establishedTCP session at block 724. The proxy server can then deliver the changedcontent to the content server over the existing TCP session. In oneimplementation, at block 726, the TCP session with the proxy server maybe torn down, and the monitoring and capturing of byte streams maycontinue to detect previously captured pattern or a change in content.Alternately, instead of tearing down the TCP session with the proxyserver at block 726, the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptationengine 401 may maintain the TCP session and continue routing of bytestreams via the proxy server until a new pattern is detected.

FIG. 8 depicts a logic flow diagram illustrating an example method 800implemented on a mobile device for optimizing signaling in a wirelessnetwork for traffic utilizing proprietary (non-standard) andnon-proprietary (standard) protocols according to a second embodiment.In one embodiment, to reduce the traffic being routed via the proxyserver, a routing optimization may be performed byproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401 at the mobiledevice. In one implementation, at block 802, theproprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401 can establish aTCP or another session with a mobile application. At block 804, insteadof establishing a second TCP session with the proxy server, a TCPsession is established between the local proxy and the content server.The local proxy can monitor, capture and/or cache byte streams from themobile application at block 806. At block 808, a transaction pattern canbe identified without being aware of the protocol from the binarystream. With the identification of the transaction pattern, optimizationis determined to be possible for the byte streams, which can be in anystandard or non-standard protocol. At block 810, the TCP session withthe content server can be torn down, and a new TCP session with theproxy server can be established for optimization.

FIG. 9 depicts a logic flow diagram illustrating an example method 900implemented on a proxy server (e.g. proxy server 325) for optimizingsignaling in a wireless network for traffic utilizing proprietary(non-standard) and non-proprietary (standard) protocols. In oneembodiment, some of the processes carried out on the mobile device bythe local proxy, can also be performed on the proxy server. In oneimplementation, at block 902, a TCP session can be established betweenthe local proxy and the proxy server. At block 904, another TCP sessioncan be established between the proxy server and the content server. Atblock 906, the proxy server may capture and/or cache transactionsincluding requests and responses comprising byte streams or binarystreams received from the local proxy and/or the content server via bytestream interfaces. At block 908, the proxy server may receiveinformation corresponding to the transaction pattern identified from thebyte streams. The transaction pattern may be determined by the localproxy using the proprietary/non-standard protocol adaptation engine 401.Alternately, a transaction pattern can be identified from the bytestreams by the proxy server. At block 910, the TCP session with thelocal proxy can be disconnected to allow the proxy server to go on ansignaling optimization mode.

In one embodiment, some applications use periodic transactions formaintaining knowledge of a user's status at the content server. If thecontent server does not receive the periodic transactions, as a resultof the TCP session tear down, the content server may incorrectly detector infer the user as being inactive. Similarly, if the mobile devicehaving the local proxy is disconnected or turned off, then the proxyserver would need a way to detect the disconnected or turned off stateof the mobile device and disconnect the session with the content server.At decision block 912, the proxy server can determine whether the userstatus on a mobile device having the local proxy is active or connectedbased on heartbeats, which are messages sent periodically by the localproxy to the proxy server. When a heartbeat is not received whenexpected, or not received at all, the proxy server can determine thatthe mobile device is disconnected or inactive, and can then disconnectthe TCP session with the content server at block 914. The disconnectingof the TCP session with the content server informs the content serverregarding the status of the mobile device such that the content servercan correctly adjust the presence status of the user of the mobiledevice. The disconnecting also reduces traffic between the two servers.In one implementation, the heartbeats can be sent to the proxy server ina radio-aware fashion to not cause the radio to go up.

Alternately, if the heartbeats are received at the proxy server, asexpected, the proxy server can determine that the mobile device isactive and connected, and thus maintain the TCP session with the contentserver. At block 916, the proxy server can replay the transactionpattern captured previously to the content server. As described before,the replaying includes providing response/request according to thedetected pattern to the content server. The response/request is cachedfor replaying.

In one implementation, the proxy server, as it continues to receive bytestreams from the contents server, can detect a pattern that is differentfrom the existing pattern or patterns. The change in the pattern canalso include change in the content or value of the byte stream in thepattern. At decision block 918, if a change in the content of the bytestream is detected, the proxy server can establish a TCP session withthe local proxy at block 920. At block 922, the proxy server can passthe byte streams to the local proxy and/or the content server. In oneimplementation, the connection can be maintained until a new pattern ofbyte streams is detected.

FIG. 10A depicts another flow diagram illustrating an example processfor distributed content caching between a mobile device and a proxyserver and the distributed management of content caching.

The disclosed technology is a distributed caching model with variousaspects of caching tasks split between the client-side/mobile deviceside (e.g., mobile device 250 in the example of FIG. 2A) and the serverside (e.g., server side including the host server 300 and/or the cachingproxy).

In general the device-side responsibilities can include deciding whethera response to a particular request can be and/or should be cached. Thedevice-side of the proxy can make this decision based on information(e.g., timing characteristics, detected pattern, detected pattern withheuristics, indication of predictability or repeatability) collectedfrom/during both request and response and cache it (e.g., storing it ina local cache on the mobile device). The device side can also notify theserver-side in the distributed cache system of the local cache event andnotify it monitor the content source (e.g., application server/contentprovider 110 of FIG. 1A-1C).

The device side can further instruct the server side of the distributedproxy to periodically validate the cache response (e.g., by way ofpolling, or sending polling requests to the content source). The deviceside can further decide whether a response to a particular cache requestshould be returned from the local cache (e.g., whether a cache hit isdetected). The decision can be made by the device side (e.g., the localproxy on the device) using information collected from/during requestand/or responses received from the content source.

In general, the server-side responsibilities can include validatingcached responses for relevancy (e.g., determine whether a cachedresponse is still valid or relevant to its associated request). Theserver-side can send the mobile device an invalidation request to notifythe device side when a cached response is detected to be no longer validor no longer relevant (e.g., the server invalidates a given contentsource). The device side then can remove the response from the localcache.

The diagram of FIG. 10A illustrates caching logic processes performedfor each detected or intercepted request (e.g., HTTP request) detectedat a mobile device (e.g., client-side of the distributed proxy). In step1002, the client-side of the proxy (e.g., local proxy 275 shown in FIG.2A or mobile device 250 of FIG. 2A) receives a request (from anapplication (e.g., mobile application) or mobile client). In step 1004,URL is normalized and in step 1006 the client-side checks to determineif the request is cacheable. If the request is determined to be notcacheable in step 1012, the request is sent to the source (applicationserver/content provider) in step 1008 and the response is received 1010and delivered to the requesting application 1022, similar to arequest-response sequence without interception by the client side proxy.

If the request is determined to be cacheable, in step 1012, theclient-side looks up the cache to determine whether a cache entry existsfor the current request. If so, in step 1024, the client-side candetermine whether the entry is valid and if so, the client side cancheck the request to see if includes a validator (e.g., a modifiedheader or an entity tag) in step 1015. For example, the concept ofvalidation is eluded to in section 13.3 of RFC 2616 which describes inpossible types of headers (e.g., eTAG, Modified_Since, must_revlaidate,pragma no_cache) and forms a validating response 1032 if so to bedelivered to the requesting application in step 1022. If the requestdoes not include a validator as determined by step 1015, a response isformed from the local cache in step 1030 and delivered to the requestingapplication in step 1022. This validation step can be used for contentthat would otherwise normally be considered un-cacheable.

If, instead, in step 1024, the cache entry is found but determined to beno longer valid or invalid, the client side of the proxy sends therequest 1016 to the content source (application server/content host) andreceives a response directly from the source in step 1018. Similarly, ifin step 1012, a cache entry was not found during the look up, therequest is also sent in step 1016. Once the response is received, theclient side checks the response to determine if it is cacheable in step1026. If so, the response is cached in step 1020. The client then sendsanother poll in step 1014 and then delivers the response to therequesting application in step 1022.

FIG. 10B depicts a diagram showing how data requests from a mobiledevice 1050 (e.g., mobile device 250) to an application server/contentprovider or content server 1095 (e.g., 110) in a wireless network can becoordinated by a distributed proxy system 1060 in a manner such thatnetwork and battery resources are conserved through using contentcaching and monitoring performed by the distributed proxy system 1060.

In satisfying application or client requests on a mobile device 1050without the distributed proxy system 1060, the mobile device 1050, orthe software widget executing on the device 1050, performs a datarequest 1052 (e.g., an HTTP GET, POST, or other request) directly to theapplication server 1095 and receives a response 1004 directly from theserver/provider 1095. If the data has been updated, the widget 1055 onthe mobile device 1050 can refreshes itself to reflect the update andwaits for small period of time and initiates another data request to theserver/provider 1095.

In one embodiment, the requesting client or software widget 1055 on thedevice 1050 can utilize the distributed proxy system 1060 in handlingthe data request made to server/provider 1095. In general, thedistributed proxy system 1060 can include a local proxy 1065 (which istypically considered a client-side component of the system 1060 and canreside on the mobile device 1050), a caching proxy 1075 (considered aserver-side component 1070 of the system 1060 and can reside on the hostserver 1085 or be wholly or partially external to the host server 1085),and a host server 1085. The local proxy 1065 can be connected to thecaching proxy 1075 and host server 1085 via any network or combinationof networks.

When the distributed proxy system 1060 is used for data/applicationrequests, the widget 1055 can perform the data request 1056 via thelocal proxy 1065. The local proxy 1065, can intercept the requests madeby device applications, and can identify the connection type of therequest (e.g., an HTTP get request or other types of requests). Thelocal proxy 1065 can then query the local cache for any previousinformation about the request (e.g., to determine whether a locallystored response is available and/or still valid). If a locally storedresponse is not available or if there is an invalid response stored, thelocal proxy 1065 can update or store information about the request, thetime it was made, and any additional data, in the local cache. Theinformation can be updated for use in potentially satisfying subsequentrequests.

The local proxy 1065 can then send the request to the host server 1085and the host server 1085 can perform the request 1056 and returns theresults in response 1058. The local proxy 1065 can store the result and,in addition, information about the result and returns the result to therequesting widget 1055.

In one embodiment, if the same request has occurred multiple times(within a certain time period) and it has often yielded same results,the local proxy 1065 can notify 1060 the server 1085 that the requestshould be monitored (e.g., steps 1062 and 1064) for result changes priorto returning a result to the local proxy 1065 or requesting widget 1055.

In one embodiment, if a request is marked for monitoring, the localproxy 1065 can now store the results into the local cache. Now, when thedata request 1066, for which a locally response is available, is made bythe widget 1055 and intercepted at the local proxy 1065, the local proxy1065 can return the response 1068 from the local cache without needingto establish a connection communication over the wireless network.

In addition, the server proxy performs the requests marked formonitoring 1070 to determine whether the response 1072 for the givenrequest has changed. In general, the host server 1085 can perform thismonitoring independently of the widget 1055 or local proxy 1065operations. Whenever an unexpected response 1072 is received for arequest, the server 1085 can notify the local proxy 1065 that theresponse has changed (e.g., the invalidate notification in step 1074)and that the locally stored response on the client should be erased orreplaced with a new response.

In this case, a subsequent data request 1076 by the widget 1055 from thedevice 1050 results in the data being returned from host server 1085(e.g., via the caching proxy 1075), and in step 1078, the request issatisfied from the caching proxy 1075. Thus, through utilizing thedistributed proxy system 1060, the wireless (cellular) network isintelligently used when the content/data for the widget or softwareapplication 1055 on the mobile device 1050 has actually changed. Assuch, the traffic needed to check for the changes to application data isnot performed over the wireless (cellular) network. This reduces theamount of generated network traffic and shortens the total time and thenumber of times the radio module is powered up on the mobile device1050, thus reducing battery consumption and, in addition, frees upnetwork bandwidth.

FIG. 11 depicts a table 1100 showing examples of different traffic orapplication category types which can be used in implementing networkaccess and content delivery policies. For example, traffic/applicationcategories can include interactive or background, whether a user iswaiting for the response, foreground/background application, and whetherthe backlight is on or off.

FIG. 12 depicts a table 1200 showing examples of different contentcategory types which can be used in implementing network access andcontent delivery policies. For example, content category types caninclude content of high or low priority, and time critical or non-timecritical content/data.

FIG. 13 depicts an interaction diagram showing how application (e.g.,mobile application) 1355 polls having data requests from a mobile deviceto an application server/content provider 1395 over a wireless networkcan be can be cached on the local proxy 1365 and managed by thedistributed caching system (including local proxy 1365 and the hostserver 1385 (having server cache 1335 or caching proxy server 1375)).

In one example, when the mobile application/widget 1355 polls anapplication server/provider 1332, the poll can locally be intercepted1334 on the mobile device by local proxy 1365. The local proxy 1365 candetect that the cached content is available for the polled content inthe request and can thus retrieve a response from the local cache tosatisfy the intercepted poll 1336 without requiring use of wirelessnetwork bandwidth or other wireless network resources. The mobileapplication/widget 1355 can subsequently receive a response to the pollfrom a cache entry 1338.

In another example, the mobile application widget 1355 polls theapplication server/provider 1340. The poll is intercepted 1342 by thelocal proxy 1365 and detects that cache content is unavailable in thelocal cache and decides to set up the polled source for caching 1344. Tosatisfy the request, the poll is forwarded to the content source 1346.The application server/provider 1395 receives the poll request from theapplication and provides a response to satisfy the current request 1348.In 1350, the application (e.g., mobile application)/widget 1355 receivesthe response from the application server/provider to satisfy therequest.

In conjunction, in order to set up content caching, the local proxy 1365tracks the polling frequency of the application and can set up a pollingschedule to be sent to the host server 1352. The local proxy sends thecache set up to the host server 1354. The host server 1385 can use thecache set up which includes, for example, an identification of theapplication server/provider to be polled and optionally a pollingschedule 1356. The host server 1385 can now poll the applicationserver/provider 1395 to monitor responses to the request 1358 on behalfof the mobile device. The application server receives the poll from thehost server and responds 1360. The host server 1385 determines that thesame response has been received and polls the application server 1395according to the specified polling schedule 1362. The applicationserver/content provider 1395 receives the poll and responds accordingly1364.

The host server 1385 detects changed or new responses and notifies thelocal proxy 1365. The host server 1385 can additional store the changedor new response in the server cache or caching proxy 1368. The localproxy 1365 receives notification from the host server 1385 that new orchanged data is now available and can invalidate the affected cacheentries 1370. The next time the application (e.g., mobileapplication)/widget 1355 generates the same request for the sameserver/content provider 1372, the local proxy determines that no validcache entry is available and instead retrieves a response from theserver cache 1374, for example, through an HTTP connection. The hostserver 1385 receives the request for the new response and sends theresponse back 1376 to the local proxy 1365. The request is thussatisfied from the server cache or caching proxy 1378 without the needfor the mobile device to utilize its radio or to consume mobile networkbandwidth thus conserving network resources.

Alternatively, when the application (e.g., mobile application) generatesthe same request in step 1380, the local proxy 1365, in response todetermining that no valid cache entry is available, forwards the poll tothe application server/provider in step 1382 over the mobile network.The application server/provider 1395 receives the poll and sends theresponse back to the mobile device in step 1384 over the mobile network.The request is thus satisfied from the server/provider using the mobilenetwork in step 1386.

FIG. 14 depicts an interaction diagram showing how application 1455polls for content from an application server/content provider 1495 whichemploys cache-defeating mechanisms in content identifiers (e.g.,identifiers intended to defeat caching) over a wireless network canstill be detected and locally cached.

In one example, when the application (e.g., mobile application)/widget1455 polls an application server/provider in step 1432, the poll canlocally be intercepted in step 1434 on the mobile device by local proxy1465. In step 1434, the local proxy 1465 on the mobile device may alsodetermine (with some level of certainty and heuristics) that a cachedefeating mechanism is employed or may be employed by the serverprovider.

The local proxy 1465 can detect that the cached content is available forthe polled content in the request and can thus retrieve a response fromthe local cache to satisfy the intercepted poll 1436 without requiringuse of wireless network bandwidth or other wireless network resources.The application (e.g., mobile application)/widget 1455 can subsequentlyreceive a response to the poll from a cache entry in step 1438 (e.g., alocally stored cache entry on the mobile device).

In another example, the application (e.g., mobile application) widget1455 polls the application server/provider 1495 in step 1440. The pollis intercepted in step 1442 by the local proxy 1465 which determinesthat a cache defeat mechanism is employed by the server/provider 1495.The local proxy 1465 also detects that cached content is unavailable inthe local cache for this request and decides to setup the polled contentsource for caching in step 1444. The local proxy 1465 can then extract apattern (e.g., a format or syntax) of an identifier of the request andtrack the polling frequency of the application to setup a pollingschedule of the host server 1485 in step 1446.

To satisfy the request, the poll request is forwarded to the contentprovider 1495 in step 1448. The application server/provider 1495receives the poll request from the application and provides a responseto satisfy the current request in step 1450. In step 1452, theapplication (e.g., mobile application)/widget 1455 receives the responsefrom the application server/provider 1495 to satisfy the request.

In conjunction, in order to setup content caching, the local proxy 1465caches the response and stores a normalized version of the identifier(or a hash value of the normalized identifier) in association with thereceived response for future identification and retrieval in step 1454.The local proxy sends the cache setup to the host server 1485 in step1456. The cache setup includes, for example, the identifier and/or anormalized version of the identifier. In some instances, a modifiedidentifier, different from the normalized identifier, is sent to thehost server 1485.

The host server 1485 can use the cache setup, which includes, forexample, an identification of the application server/provider to bepolled and optionally a polling schedule in step 1458. The host server1485 can now poll the application server/provider 1495 to monitorresponses to the request in step 1460 on behalf of the mobile device.The application server 1495 receives the poll from the host server 1485responds in step 1462. The host server 1485 determines that the sameresponse has been received and polls the application server 1495, forexample, according to the specified polling schedule and using thenormalized or modified identifier in step 1464. The applicationserver/content provider 1495 receives the poll and responds accordinglyin step 1466.

This time, the host server 1485 detects changed or new responses andnotifies the local proxy 1465 in step 1468. The host server 1485 canadditionally store the changed or new response in the server cache 1435or caching proxy 1475 in step 1470. The local proxy 1465 receivesnotification from the host server 1485 that new or changed data is nowavailable and can invalidate the affected cache entries in step 1472.The next time the application (e.g., mobile application)/widgetgenerates the same request for the same server/content provider 1495 instep 1474, the local proxy 1465 determines that no valid cache entry isavailable and instead retrieves a response from the server cache in step1476, for example, through an HTTP connection. The host server 1485receives the request for the new response and sends the response back tothe local proxy 1465 in step 1478. The request is thus satisfied fromthe server cache or caching proxy in step 1480 without the need for themobile device to utilize its radio or to consume mobile networkbandwidth thus conserving network resources.

Alternatively, when the application (e.g., mobile application) 1455generates the same request, the local proxy 1465, in response todetermining that no valid cache entry is available in step 1484,forwards the poll to the application server provider 1495 in step 1482over the mobile network. The application server/provider 1495 receivesthe poll and sends the response back to the mobile device in step 1486over the mobile network. The request is thus satisfied from theserver/provider using the mobile network 1486 in step 1488.

FIG. 15 depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process forcollecting information about a request and the associated response toidentify cacheability and caching the response.

In process 1502, information about a request and information about theresponse received for the request is collected. In processes 1504 and1506, information about the request initiated at the mobile device andinformation about the response received for the request are used inaggregate or independently to determine cacheability at step 1508. Thedetails of the steps for using request and response information forassessing cacheability are illustrated at flow A as further described inthe example of FIG. 16.

In step 1508, if based on flow A it is determined that the response isnot cacheable, then the response is not cached in step 1510, and theflow can optionally restart at 1502 to collect information about arequest or response to again assess cacheability.

In step 1508, if it is determined from flow A that the response iscacheable, then in 1512 the response can be stored in the cache as acache entry including metadata having additional information regardingcaching of the response. The cached entry, in addition to the response,includes metadata having additional information regarding caching of theresponse. The metadata can include timing data including, for example,access time of the cache entry or creation time of the cache entry.

After the response is stored in the cache, a parallel process can occurto determine whether the response stored in the cache needs to beupdated in process 1520. If so, the response stored in the cache of themobile device is invalided or removed from the cache of the mobiledevice, in process 1522. For example, relevance or validity of theresponse can be verified periodically by polling a host server to whichthe request is directed on behalf of the mobile device. The host servercan be polled at a rate determined at the mobile device using requestinformation collected for the request for which the response is cached.The rate is determined from averages of time intervals between previousrequests generated by the same client which generated the request.

The verifying can be performed by an entity that is physically distinctfrom the mobile device. In one embodiment, the entity is a proxy servercoupled to the mobile device and able to communicate wirelessly with themobile device and the proxy server polls a host server to which therequest is directed at the rate determined at the mobile device based ontiming intervals between previous requests generated by the same clientwhich generated the request.

In process 1514, a subsequent request for the same client or applicationis detected. In process 1516, cache look-up in the local cache isperformed to identify the cache entry to be used in responding to thesubsequent request. In one embodiment, the metadata is used to determinewhether the response stored as the cached entry is used to satisfy thesubsequent response. In process 1518, the response can be served fromthe cache to satisfy a subsequent request. The response can be served inresponse to identifying a matching cache entry for the subsequentrequest determined at least in part using the metadata.

FIG. 16 depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process for adecision flow to determine whether a response to a request can becached.

Process 1602 determines if the request is directed to a blacklisteddestination. If so, the response is not cached, in step 1685. If ablacklisted destination is detected, or if the request itself isassociated with a blacklisted application, the remainder of the analysisshown in the figure may not be performed. The process can continue tosteps 1604 and 1606 if the request and its destination are notblacklisted.

In process 1604, request characteristics information associated with therequest is analyzed. In analyzing the request, in process 1608, therequest method is identified and in step 1614, it is determined whetherthe response can be cached based on the request method. If anuncacheable request is detected, the request is not cached and theprocess may terminate at process 1685. If the request method isdetermined to be cacheable, or not uncacheable, then the response can beidentified as cacheable or potentially cacheable (e.g., cacheable butsubject to the other tests and analysis shown in the figure) at step1695.

In process 1610, the size of the request is determined. In process 1616,it is determined whether the request size exceeds a cacheable size. Ifso, the response is not cached and the analysis may terminate here atprocess 1685. If the request size does not exceed a cacheable size instep 1616, then the response can be identified as cacheable orpotentially cacheable (e.g., cacheable but subject to the other testsand analysis shown in the figure) at step 1695.

In step 1612, the periodicity information between the request and otherrequests generated by the same client is determined. In step 1618, it isdetermined whether periodicity has been identified. If not, the responseis not cached and the analysis may terminate here at process 1685. Ifso, then the response can be identified as cacheable or potentiallycacheable (e.g., cacheable but subject to the other tests and analysisshown in the figure) at step 1695.

In process 1606, the request characteristics information associated withthe response received for the request is analyzed.

In process 1620, the status code is identified and determined whetherthe status code indicates a cacheable response status code in process1628. If an uncacheable status code is detected, the request is notcached and the process may terminate at process 1685. If the responsestatus code indicates cacheability, or not uncacheable, then theresponse can be identified as cacheable or potentially cacheable (e.g.,cacheable but subject to the other tests and analysis shown in thefigure) at step 1695.

In process 1622, the size of the response is determined. In process1630, it is determined whether the response size exceeds a cacheablesize. If so, the response is not cached and the analysis may terminatehere at process 1685. If the response size does not exceed a cacheablesize in step 1630, then the response can be identified as cacheable orpotentially cacheable (e.g., cacheable but subject to the other testsand analysis shown in the figure) at step 1695.

In process 1624, the response body is analyzed. In process 1632, it isdetermined whether the response contains dynamic content or highlydynamic content. Dynamic content includes data that changes with a highfrequency and/or has a short time to live or short time of relevance dueto the inherence nature of the data (e.g., stock quotes, sports scoresof fast pace sporting events, etc.). If so, the response is not cachedand the analysis may terminate here at process 1685. If not, then theresponse can be identified as cacheable or potentially cacheable (e.g.,cacheable but subject to the other tests and analysis shown in thefigure) at step 1695.

Process 1626 determines whether transfer encoding or chunked transferencoding is used in the response. If so, the response is not cached andthe analysis may terminate here at process 1685. If not, then theresponse can be identified as cacheable or potentially cacheable (e.g.,cacheable but subject to the other tests and analysis shown in thefigure) at step 1695.

Not all of the tests described above need to be performed to determinewhether a response is cached. Additional tests not shown may also beperformed. Note that any of the tests 1608, 1610, 1612, 1620, 1622,1624, and 1626 can be performed, singly or in any combination todetermine cacheability. In some instances, all of the above tests areperformed. In some instances, all tests performed (any number of theabove tests that are actually performed) need to confirm cacheabilityfor the response to be determined to be cacheable. In other words, insome cases, if any one of the above tests indicate non-cacheability, theresponse is not cached, regardless of the results of the other tests. Inother cases, different criteria can be used to determine which tests orhow many tests need to pass for the system to decide to cache a givenresponse, based on the combination of request characteristics andresponse characteristics.

FIG. 17 depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process fordetermining potential for cacheability based on request periodicityand/or response repeatability.

In process 1702, requests generated by the client are tracked to detectperiodicity of the requests. In process 1706, it is determined whetherthere are predictable patterns in the timing of the requests. If so, theresponse content may be cached in process 1795. If not, in process 1708it is determined whether the request intervals fall within a tolerancelevel. If so, the response content may be cached in process 1795. Ifnot, the response is not cached in process 1785.

In process 1704, responses received for requests generated by the clientare tracked to detect repeatability in content of the responses. Inprocess 1710, hash values of response bodies of the responses receivedfor the client are examined and in process 1712 the status codesassociated with the responses are examined. In process 1714, it isdetermined whether there is similarity in the content of at least two ofthe responses using hash values and/or the status codes. If so, theresponse may be cached in process 1795. If not, the response is notcached in 1785.

FIG. 18 depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process fordynamically adjusting caching parameters for a given request or client.

In process 1802, requests generated by a client or directed to a hostare tracked at the mobile device to detect periodicity of the requests.Process 1804 determines if the request intervals between the two or morerequests are the same or approximately the same. In process 1806, it isdetermined that the request intervals between the two or more requestsfall within the tolerance level.

Based on the results of steps 1804 and 1806, the response for therequests for which periodicity is detected is received in process 1808.

In process 1812, a response is cached as a cache entry in a cache of themobile device. In process 1814, the host is monitored at a rate toverify relevance or validity of the cache entry, and simultaneously, inprocess 1816, the response can be served from the cache to satisfy asubsequent request.

In process 1810, a rate to monitor a host is determined from the requestinterval, using, for example, the results of processes 1804 and/or 1806.In process 1820, the rate at which the given host is monitored is set toverify relevance or validity of the cache entry for the requests. Inprocess 1822, a change in request intervals for requests generated bythe client is detected. In process 1824, a different rate is computedbased on the change in request intervals. The rate at which the givenhost is monitored to verify relevance or validity of the cache entry forthe requests is updated in step 1820.

FIG. 19 depicts a flow chart illustrating example processes forapplication and/or traffic (data) categorization while factoring in useractivity and expectations for implementation of network access andcontent delivery policies.

In process 1902, a system or server detects that new or changed data isavailable to be sent to a mobile device. The data, new, changed, orupdated, can include one or more of, IM presence updates, stock tickerupdates, weather updates, mail, text messages, news feeds, friend feeds,blog entries, articles, documents, any multimedia content (e.g., images,audio, photographs, video, etc.), or any others that can be sent overHTTP or wireless broadband networks, either to be consumed by a user orfor use in maintaining operation of an end device or application.

In process 1904, the application to which the new or changed data isdirected is identified. In process 1906, the application is categorizedbased on the application. In process 1908, the priority or timecriticality of the new or changed data is determined. In process 1910,the data is categorized. Based on the information determined from theapplication and/or priority/time-sensitivity of the relevant data, anyor all of a series of evaluations can be performed to categorize thetraffic and/or to formulate a policy for delivery and/or powering on themobile device radio.

For example, using the identified application information, in process1912, it is determined whether the application is in an active stateinteracting with a user on a mobile device. In process 1914, it isdetermined if the application is running in the foreground on the mobiledevice.

If the answer is ‘Yes’ to any number of the test of processes 1912 or1914, the system or server can then determine that the new or changeddata is to be sent to the mobile device in step 1926, and sent withoutdelay. Alternatively, the process can continue at flow ‘C’ where thetiming, along with other transmission parameters such as networkconfiguration, can be selected. If the answer is ‘No’ to the tests of1912 or 1914, the other test can be performed in any order. As long asone of the tests 1912 or 1914 is ‘Yes,’ then the system or server havingthe data can proceed to step 1926 and/or flow ‘C.’

If the answer is ‘No’ to the tests 1912 and 1914 based on theapplication or application characteristics, then the process can proceedto step 1924, where the sending of the new or changed data issuppressed, at least on a temporary basis. The process can continue inflow ‘A’ for example steps for further determining the timing of when tosend the data to optimize network use and/or device power consumption.

Similarly, in process 1916, it is determined whether the application isrunning in the background. If so, the process can proceed to step 1924where the sending of the new or changed data is suppressed. However,even if the application is in the background state, any of the remainingtests can be performed. For example, even if an application is in thebackground state, new or changed data may still be sent if of a highpriority or is time critical.

Using the priority or time sensitivity information, in process 1918, itis determined whether the data is of high priority 1918. In process1920, it is determined whether the data is time critical. In process1922, it is determined whether a user is waiting for a response thatwould be provided in the available data.

If the answer is ‘Yes’ to any number of the test of processes 1918,1920, or 1922, the system or server can then determine that the new orchanged data is to be sent to the mobile device in step 1926, and sentwithout delay. Alternatively, the process can continue at flow ‘C’ wherethe timing, along with other transmission parameters such as a networkconfiguration, can be selected. If the answer is ‘No’ to any of thesetests, the other test can be performed in any order. As long as one ofthe tests 1918, 1920, or 1922 is ‘Yes,’ then the system or server havingthe data can proceed to step 1926 and/or flow ‘C.’

If the answer is ‘No’ to one or more of the tests 1918, 1920, or 1922,then the process can proceed to step 1924, where the sending of the newor changed data is suppressed, at least on a temporary basis. Theprocess can continue in flow ‘A’ for example steps for furtherdetermining the timing of when to send the data to optimize network useand/or device power consumption. The process can continue to step 1924with or without the other tests being performed if one of the testsyields a ‘No’ response.

The determined application category in step 1904 can be used in lieu ofor in conjunction with the determined data categories in step 1910. Forexample, the new or changed data that is of a high priority or is timecritical can be sent at step 1926 even if the application in theforeground state but not actively interacting with the user on themobile device or if the application is not in the foreground, or in thebackground.

Similarly, even if the user is not waiting for a response which would beprovided in the new or change data (in step 1922), the data can be sentto the mobile device 1926 if the application is in the foreground, or ifthe data is of high priority or contains time critical content.

In general, the suppression can be performed at the content source(e.g., originating server/content host of the new or changed data), orat a proxy server. For example, the proxy server may be remote from therecipient mobile device (e.g., able to wirelessly connect to thereceiving mobile device). The proxy server may also be remote from theoriginating server/content host. Specifically, the logic andintelligence in determining whether the data is to be sent or suppressedcan exist on the same server or be the same entity as the originator ofthe data to be sent or partially or wholly remote from it (e.g., theproxy is able to communicate with the content originating server).

In one embodiment, the waiting to transfer the data is managed by alocal proxy on the mobile device which is able to wirelessly communicatewith a recipient server (e.g., the host server for the mobileapplication or client). The local proxy on the mobile device can controlthe radio use on the mobile device for transfer of the data when thetime period has elapsed, or when additional data to be sent is detected.

FIG. 20A depicts a flow chart illustrating example processes forhandling traffic which is to be suppressed at least temporarilydetermined from application/traffic categorization.

For example, in process 2002, a time period is elapsed before the new orchange data is transmitted in step 2006. This can be performed if thedata is of low priority or is not time critical, or otherwise determinedto be suppressed for sending (e.g., as determined in the flow chart ofFIG. 19). The time period can be set by the application, the user, athird party, and/or take upon a default value. The time period may alsobe adapted over time for specific types of applications or real-timenetwork operating conditions. If the new or changed data to be sent isoriginating from a mobile device, the waiting to transfer of the datauntil a time period has elapsed can be managed by a local proxy on themobile device, which can communicate with the host server. The localproxy can also enable or allow the use radio use on the mobile devicefor transfer of the data when the time period has elapsed.

In some instances, the new or changed data is transmitted in 2006 whenthere is additional data to be sent, in process 2004. If the new orchanged data to be sent is originating from a mobile device, the waitingto transfer of the data until there is additional data to be sent, canbe managed by a local proxy on the mobile device, which can communicatewith the host server. The local proxy can also enable or allow the useradio use on the mobile device for transfer of the data when there isadditional data to be sent, such that device resources can be conserved.Note that the additional data may originate from the same mobileapplication/client or a different application/client. The additionaldata may include content of higher priority or is time critical. Theadditional data may also be of same or lower priority. In someinstances, a certain number of non-priority, or non-time-sensitiveevents may trigger a send event.

If the new or changed data to be sent is originating from a server(proxy server or host server of the content), the waiting to transfer ofthe data until a time period has elapsed or waiting for additional datato be sent, can be managed by the proxy server which can wirelesslycommunicate with the mobile device. In general, the proxy server waitsuntil additional data is available for the same mobile device beforesending the data together in a single transaction to minimize the numberof power-ons of device battery and to optimize network use.

FIG. 20B depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process forselection of a network configuration for use in sending traffic based onapplication and/or traffic (data) categorization.

In process 2008, an activity state of an application on the mobiledevice is detected for which traffic is directed to or originated fromis detected. In parallel or in lieu of activity state, a timecriticality of data contained in the traffic to be sent between themobile device and the host server can be determined, in process 2010.The activity state can be determined in part or in while, by whether theapplication is in a foreground or background state on the mobile device.The activity state can also be determined by whether a user isinteracting with the application.

Using activity state and/or data characteristics, when it has determinedfrom that the data is to be sent to the mobile device in step 2012 ofFIG. 19, the process can continue to step 3006 for network configurationselection.

For example, in process 2014, a generation of wireless standard isselected. The generation of wireless standard which can be selectedincludes 2G or 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 3G+, 3GPP, LTE, or 4G, or any otherfuture generations. For example, slower or older generation of wirelessstandards can be specified for less critical transactions or trafficcontaining less critical data. For example, older standards such as 2G,2.5G, or 3G can be selected for routing traffic when one or more of thefollowing is detected, the application is not interacting with the user,the application is running in the background on the mobile device, orthe data contained in the traffic is not time critical. Newergenerations such as can be specified for higher priority traffic ortransactions. For example, newer generations such as 3G, LTE, or 4G canbe specified for traffic when the activity state is in interaction witha user or in a foreground on the mobile device.

In process 2016, the access channel type can be selected. For example,forward access channel (FACH) or the dedicated channel (DCH) can bespecified. In process 2018, a network configuration is selected based ondata rate or data rate capabilities. For example, a networkconfiguration with a slower data rate can be specified for traffic whenone or more of the following is detected, the application is notinteracting with the user, the application is running in the backgroundon the mobile device, or the data contained in the traffic is not timecritical

In process 2020, a network configuration is selected by specifyingaccess points. Any or all of the steps 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020 can beperformed or in any combination in specifying network configurations.

FIG. 20C depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process forimplementing network access and content delivery policies based onapplication and/or traffic (data) categorization.

In process 2034, an activity state of an application on a mobile deviceto which traffic is originated from or directed to is detected. Forexample, the activity state can be determined by whether the applicationis in a foreground or background state on the mobile device. Theactivity state can also be determined by whether a user is expectingdata contained in the traffic directed to the mobile device.

In process 2036, a time criticality of data contained in the traffic tobe sent between the mobile device and the host server is detected. Forexample, when the data is not time critical, the timing with which toallow the traffic to pass through can be set based on when additionaldata needs to be sent. Therefore, the traffic can be batched with theother data so as to conserve network and/or device resources.

The application state and/or data characteristics can be used forapplication categorization and/or data categorization to determinewhether the traffic resulting therefrom is to be sent to the mobiledevice or suppressed at least on a temporary basis before sending, asillustrated in the flow chart shown in the example of FIG. 19.

Continuing at flow C after a determination has been made to send thetraffic, the parameters relating to how and when the traffic is to besent can be determined. For example, in process 2038, a timing withwhich to allow the traffic to pass through, is determined based on theactivity state or the time criticality.

In process 2040, radio use on the mobile device is controlled based onthe timing with which the traffic is allowed to pass through. Forexample, for traffic initiated from the mobile device, a local proxy canresiding on the mobile device can control whether the radio is to beturned on for a transaction, and if so, when it is to be turned on,based on transaction characteristics determined from application state,or data priority/time-sensitivity.

In process 2042, a network configuration in the wireless network isselected for use in passing traffic to and/or from the mobile device.For example, a higher capacity or data rate network (e.g., 3G, 3G+,3.5G, LTE, or 4G networks) can be selected for passing through trafficwhen the application is active or when the data contained in the trafficis time critical or is otherwise of a higher priority/importance.

FIG. 21 depicts a flow chart illustrating an example process for networkselection based on mobile user activity or user expectations.

In process 2102, the backlight status of a mobile device is detected.The backlight status can be used to determine or infer informationregarding user activity and/or user expectations. For example, inprocess 2104, user interaction with an application on a mobile device isdetected and/or in process 2106, it is determined that a user isexpecting data contained in traffic directed to the mobile device, ifthe backlight is on.

The user interaction 2104 and/or user expectation 2106 can be determinedor inferred via other direct or indirect cues. For example, devicemotion sensor, ambient light, data activity, detection of radio activityand patterns, call processing, etc. can be used alone or in combinationto make an assessment regarding user activity, interaction, orexpectations.

In process 2108, an activity state of an application on the mobiledevice for which traffic is originated from or directed to, isdetermined. In one embodiment, the activity state of the application isdetermined by user interaction with the application on the mobile deviceand/or by whether a user is expecting data contained in the trafficdirected to the mobile device.

In process 2110, 3G, 4G, or LTE network is selected for use in sendingtraffic between a mobile device and a host server in the wirelessnetwork. Other network configurations or technologies can be selected aswell, including but not limited to 2.5G GSM/GPRS networks, EDGE/EGPRS,3.5G, 3G+, turbo 3G, HSDPA, etc. For example, a higher bandwidth orhigher capacity network can be selected when user interaction isdetected with an application requesting to access the network.Similarly, if it can be determined or inferred with some certainty thatthe user may be expecting data contained in traffic requesting networkaccess, a higher capacity or higher data rate network may be selected aswell.

The activity state can also be determined by whether data contained inthe traffic directed to the mobile device responds to foregroundactivities in the application. For applications which are in theforeground, a higher capacity (e.g., 3.5G, 4G, or LTE) network may beselected for use in carrying out the transaction.

The activity state can be determined via device parameters such as thebacklight status of the mobile device or any other software or hardwarebased device sensors including but not limited to, resistive sensors,capacitive sensors, light detectors, motion sensors, proximity sensors,touch screen sensors, etc. The network configuration which is selectedfor use can be further based on a time criticality and/or priority ofdata contained in the traffic to be sent between the mobile device andthe host server.

FIG. 22 depicts a data timing diagram 2200 showing an example ofdetection of periodic request which may be suitable for caching.

In the example shown, a first request from a client/application on amobile device is detected at time 1:00 (t1). At this time, a cache entrymay be created in step 2202. At time 2:00 (t2), the second request isdetected from the same client/application, and the cache entry that wascreated can now be updated with the detected interval of 1 hour betweentime t2 and t1 at step 2204. The third request from the same client isnow detected at time t3=3:00, and it can now be determined that aperiodic request is detected in step 2206. The local proxy can now cachethe response and send a start poll request specifying the interval(e.g., 1 hour in this case) to the proxy server.

The timing diagram further illustrates the timing window between 2:54and 3:06, which indicates the boundaries of a window within whichperiodicity would be determined if the third request is received withinthis time frame 2210. The timing window 2208 between 2:54 and 3:06corresponds to 20% of the previous interval and is the example toleranceshown. Other tolerances may be used, and can be determined dynamicallyor on a case by case (application by application) basis.

FIG. 23 depicts a data timing diagram 2300 showing an example ofdetection of change in request intervals and updating of server pollingrate in response thereto.

At step 2302, the proxy determines that a periodic request is detected,the local proxy caches the response and sets the polling request to theproxy server, and the interval is set to 1 hour at the 3rd request, forexample. At time t4=3:55, the request is detected 55 minutes later,rather than 1 hour. The interval of 55 minutes still fits in to thewindow 2304 given a tolerance of 20%. However, at step 2306, the 5threquest is received at time t5=4:50, which no longer fits within thetolerance window set determined from the interval between the 1st andsecond, and second and third requests of 1 hour. The local proxy nowretrieves the resource or response from the proxy server, and refreshesthe local cache (e.g., cache entry not used to serve the 5th request).The local proxy also resends a start poll request to the proxy serverwith an updated interval (e.g., 55 minutes in the example) and thewindow defined by the tolerance, set by example to 20%, now becomes 11minutes, rather than 12 minutes.

Note that in general, the local proxy notifies the proxy server with anupdated polling interval when an interval changes is detected and/orwhen a new rate has been determined. This is performed, however,typically only for background application requests orautomatic/programmatic refreshes (e.g., requests with no userinteraction involved). In general, if the user is interacting with theapplication in the foreground and causing out of period requests to bedetected, the rate of polling or polling interval specified to the proxyserver is typically not update, as illustrated in FIG. 24. FIG. 24depicts a data timing diagram 2400 showing an example of servingforeground requests with cached entries.

For example, between the times of t=3:00 and 3:30, the local proxydetects 1st and 2nd foreground requests at t=3:10 and t=3:20. Theseforeground requests are outside of the periodicity detected forbackground application or automatic application requests. The responsedata retrieved for the foreground request can be cached and updated,however, the request interval for foreground requests are not sent tothe server in process 2408.

As shown, the next periodic request detected from the application (e.g.,a background request, programmatic/automatic refresh) at t=4:00, theresponse is served from the cache, as is the request at t=5:00.

FIG. 25 depicts a data timing diagram 2500 showing an example of anon-optimal effect of cache invalidation occurring after outdatedcontent has been served once again to a requesting application.

Since the interval of proxy server polls is set to approximately thesame interval at which the application (e.g., mobile application) issending requests, it is likely the case that the proxy server typicallydetects changed content (e.g., at t=5:02) after the cached entry (nowoutdated) has already been served for a request (e.g., to the 5threquest at t=5:00). In the example shown, the resource updates orchanges at t=4:20 and the previous server poll which occurs at t=4:02was not able to capture this change until the next poll at 5:02 andsends a cache invalidation to the local proxy at 2510. Therefore, thelocal cache does not invalidate the cache at some time after the 5threquest at time t=5:00 has already been served with the old content. Thefresh content is now not provided to the requesting application untilthe 6th request at t=6:00, 1 period later at process 2506.

To optimize caching performance and to resolve this issue, the localproxy can adjust time setup by specifying an initial time of request, inaddition to the polling interval to the proxy server. The initial timeof request here is set to sometime before (e.g., a few minutes) therequest actually occurred such that the proxy server polls occurslightly before actual future application requests. This way, the proxycan pick up any changes in responses in time to be served to thesubsequent application request.

FIG. 26 depicts a data timing diagram 2600 showing cache management andresponse taking into account the time-to-live (TTL) set for cacheentries.

In one embodiment, cached response data in the local cache specifies theamount of time cache entries can be stored in the local cache until itis deleted or removed.

The time when a response data in a given cache entry is to be removedcan be determined using the formula: <response data_cache time>+<TTL>,as shown at t=3:00, the response data is automatically removed after theTTL has elapsed due to the caching at step 2612 (e.g., in this example,24 hours after the caching at step 2612). In general the time to live(TTL) applies to the entire cache entry (e.g., including both theresponse data and any metadata, which includes information regardingperiodicity and information used to compute periodicity). In oneembodiment, the cached response data TTL is set to 24 hours by defaultor some other value (e.g., 6 hours, 12 hours, 48 hours, etc.). The TTLmay also be dynamically adjustable or reconfigured by the admin/userand/or different on a case-by-case, device, application, networkprovider, network conditions, operator, and/or user-specific basis.

FIG. 27 shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the exampleform of a computer system within which a set of instructions, forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, may be executed.

In the example of FIG. 27, the computer system 2700 includes aprocessor, memory, non-volatile memory, and an interface device. Variouscommon components (e.g., cache memory) are omitted for illustrativesimplicity. The computer system 2700 is intended to illustrate ahardware device on which any of the components depicted in the exampleof FIGS. 2A-B, 3A-B, 4A-D and 5A-D (and any other components describedin this specification) can be implemented. The computer system 2700 canbe of any applicable known or convenient type. The components of thecomputer system 2700 can be coupled together via a bus or through someother known or convenient device.

The processor may be, for example, a conventional microprocessor such asan Intel Pentium microprocessor or Motorola power PC microprocessor. Oneof skill in the relevant art will recognize that the terms“machine-readable (storage) medium” or “computer-readable (storage)medium” include any type of device that is accessible by the processor.

The memory is coupled to the processor by, for example, a bus. Thememory can include, by way of example but not limitation, random accessmemory (RAM), such as dynamic RAM (DRAM) and static RAM (SRAM). Thememory can be local, remote, or distributed.

The bus also couples the processor to the non-volatile memory and driveunit. The non-volatile memory is often a magnetic floppy or hard disk, amagnetic-optical disk, an optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM), suchas a CD-ROM, EPROM, or EEPROM, a magnetic or optical card, or anotherform of storage for large amounts of data. Some of this data is oftenwritten, by a direct memory access process, into memory during executionof software in the computer 2700. The non-volatile storage can be local,remote, or distributed. The non-volatile memory is optional becausesystems can be created with all applicable data available in memory. Atypical computer system will usually include at least a processor,memory, and a device (e.g., a bus) coupling the memory to the processor.

Software is typically stored in the non-volatile memory and/or the driveunit. Indeed, for large programs, it may not even be possible to storethe entire program in the memory. Nevertheless, it should be understoodthat for software to run, if necessary, it is moved to a computerreadable location appropriate for processing, and for illustrativepurposes, that location is referred to as the memory in this paper. Evenwhen software is moved to the memory for execution, the processor willtypically make use of hardware registers to store values associated withthe software, and local cache that, ideally, serves to speed upexecution. As used herein, a software program is assumed to be stored atany known or convenient location (from non-volatile storage to hardwareregisters) when the software program is referred to as “implemented in acomputer-readable medium.” A processor is considered to be “configuredto execute a program” when at least one value associated with theprogram is stored in a register readable by the processor.

The bus also couples the processor to the network interface device. Theinterface can include one or more of a modem or network interface. Itwill be appreciated that a modem or network interface can be consideredto be part of the computer system. The interface can include an analogmodem, isdn modem, cable modem, token ring interface, satellitetransmission interface (e.g. “direct PC”), or other interfaces forcoupling a computer system to other computer systems. The interface caninclude one or more input and/or output devices. The I/O devices caninclude, by way of example but not limitation, a keyboard, a mouse orother pointing device, disk drives, printers, a scanner, and other inputand/or output devices, including a display device. The display devicecan include, by way of example but not limitation, a cathode ray tube(CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), or some other applicable known orconvenient display device. For simplicity, it is assumed thatcontrollers of any devices not depicted in the example of FIG. 8 residein the interface.

In operation, the computer system 2700 can be controlled by operatingsystem software that includes a file management system, such as a diskoperating system. One example of operating system software withassociated file management system software is the family of operatingsystems known as Windows® from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.,and their associated file management systems. Another example ofoperating system software with its associated file management systemsoftware is the Linux operating system and its associated filemanagement system. The file management system is typically stored in thenon-volatile memory and/or drive unit and causes the processor toexecute the various acts required by the operating system to input andoutput data and to store data in the memory, including storing files onthe non-volatile memory and/or drive unit.

Some portions of the detailed description may be presented in terms ofalgorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bitswithin a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the means used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally,conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to adesired result. The operations are those requiring physicalmanipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily,these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capableof being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwisemanipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasonsof common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements,symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion,it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or“determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action andprocesses of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device,that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical(electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers andmemories into other data similarly represented as physical quantitieswithin the computer system memories or registers or other suchinformation storage, transmission or display devices.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently relatedto any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purposesystems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachingsherein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specializedapparatus to perform the methods of some embodiments. The requiredstructure for a variety of these systems will appear from thedescription below. In addition, the techniques are not described withreference to any particular programming language, and variousembodiments may thus be implemented using a variety of programminglanguages.

In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone deviceor may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or aclient machine in a client-server network environment, or as a peermachine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment.

The machine may be a server computer, a client computer, a personalcomputer (PC), a tablet PC, a laptop computer, a set-top box (STB), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, an iPhone®, aBlackberry®, a processor, a telephone, a web appliance, a networkrouter, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set ofinstructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be takenby that machine.

While the machine-readable medium or machine-readable storage medium isshown in an exemplary embodiment to be a single medium, the term“machine-readable medium” and “machine-readable storage medium” shouldbe taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches andservers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term“machine-readable medium” and “machine-readable storage medium” shallalso be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encodingor carrying a set of instructions for execution by the machine and thatcause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of thepresently disclosed technique and innovation.

In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of thedisclosure, may be implemented as part of an operating system or aspecific application, component, program, object, module or sequence ofinstructions referred to as “computer programs.” The computer programstypically comprise one or more instructions set at various times invarious memory and storage devices in a computer, and that, when readand executed by one or more processing units or processors in acomputer, cause the computer to perform operations to execute elementsinvolving the various aspects of the disclosure.

Moreover, while embodiments have been described in the context of fullyfunctioning computers and computer systems, those skilled in the artwill appreciate that the various embodiments are capable of beingdistributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that thedisclosure applies equally regardless of the particular type of machineor computer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution.

Further examples of machine-readable storage media, machine-readablemedia, or computer-readable (storage) media include but are not limitedto recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memorydevices, floppy and other removable disks, hard disk drives, opticaldisks (e.g., Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital VersatileDisks, (DVDs), etc.), among others, and transmission type media such asdigital and analog communication links.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout thedescription and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and thelike are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to anexclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of“including, but not limited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,”“coupled,” or any variant thereof, means any connection or coupling,either direct or indirect, between two or more elements; the coupling ofconnection between the elements can be physical, logical, or acombination thereof. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,”and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall referto this application as a whole and not to any particular portions ofthis application. Where the context permits, words in the above DetailedDescription using the singular or plural number may also include theplural or singular number respectively. The word “or,” in reference to alist of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretationsof the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list,and any combination of the items in the list.

The above detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the teachings to the precise formdisclosed above. While specific embodiments of, and examples for, thedisclosure are described above for illustrative purposes, variousequivalent modifications are possible within the scope of thedisclosure, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. Forexample, while processes or blocks are presented in a given order,alternative embodiments may perform routines having steps, or employsystems having blocks, in a different order, and some processes orblocks may be deleted, moved, added, subdivided, combined, and/ormodified to provide alternative or subcombinations. Each of theseprocesses or blocks may be implemented in a variety of different ways.Also, while processes or blocks are at times shown as being performed inseries, these processes or blocks may instead be performed in parallel,or may be performed at different times. Further any specific numbersnoted herein are only examples: alternative implementations may employdiffering values or ranges.

The teachings of the disclosure provided herein can be applied to othersystems, not necessarily the system described above. The elements andacts of the various embodiments described above can be combined toprovide further embodiments.

Any patents and applications and other references noted above, includingany that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporatedherein by reference. Aspects of the disclosure can be modified, ifnecessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the variousreferences described above to provide yet further embodiments of thedisclosure.

These and other changes can be made to the disclosure in light of theabove Detailed Description. While the above description describescertain embodiments of the disclosure, and describes the best modecontemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, theteachings can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may varyconsiderably in its implementation details, while still beingencompassed by the subject matter disclosed herein. As noted above,particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspectsof the disclosure should not be taken to imply that the terminology isbeing redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics,features, or aspects of the disclosure with which that terminology isassociated. In general, the terms used in the following claims shouldnot be construed to limit the disclosure to the specific embodimentsdisclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Descriptionsection explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope ofthe disclosure encompasses not only the disclosed embodiments, but alsoall equivalent ways of practicing or implementing the disclosure underthe claims.

While certain aspects of the disclosure are presented below in certainclaim forms, the inventors contemplate the various aspects of thedisclosure in any number of claim forms. For example, while only oneaspect of the disclosure is recited as a means-plus-function claim under35 U.S.C. §112, ¶13, other aspects may likewise be embodied as ameans-plus-function claim, or in other forms, such as being embodied ina computer-readable medium. (Any claims intended to be treated under 35U.S.C. §112, ¶13 will begin with the words “means for”.) Accordingly,the applicant reserves the right to add additional claims after filingthe application to pursue such additional claim forms for other aspectsof the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of optimizing management of presenceinformation over a mobile network, comprising: determining, by a hostserver, the presence information of a user of a mobile application on amobile device based on heartbeat messages, while a first connectionbetween the mobile device and the host server is closed, wherein theuser is determined to be online when heartbeat messages are receivedfrom the mobile device in regular intervals of time, and wherein theuser is determined to be offline when heartbeat messages are notreceived from the mobile device; and maintaining or closing a secondconnection between the host server and a content server based on thepresence information of the user, wherein maintaining the secondconnection allows the content server to determine that the user isonline, and closing the second connection allows the content server todetermine that the user is offline.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising when the first connection is open, receiving periodictransactions from the mobile application over the first connection forrouting to the content server over the second connection.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein receiving of the periodic transactions over thesecond connection allows the content server to determine that the useris online.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the heartbeat messages aresent by the mobile device in a radio-aware fashion.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein maintaining the second connection, while the firstconnection is closed, includes replaying a transaction pattern to thecontent server.